UIndy hires new chief of police
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli announced in a campus-wide email on Jan. 7 that David Selby would become the new Chief of Police and Director of Campus Safety at the University of Indianapolis.
Selby has worked in law enforcement since 1979 and on college campuses since 1993. Although he is a longtime Anderson, Ind. resident, Selby has considered moving to Indianapolis.
“I love Indianapolis. Indianapolis is a diverse, wonderful city—so much to do here—and I feel very, very fortunate to have been chosen for this job. It’s a real exciting journey for me now, and building bridges is so important,” Selby said.
Selby began as a school teacher but moved to law enforcement after a short while. Before coming to UIndy, Selby worked at both Butler University and Indiana University Kokomo as police chief.
He also has worked security for people such as Charlton Heston, Susan Anton, Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr.
“I have a vast amount of experience. I built two departments,” Selby said. “When I took over Butler University, it was a security department, public safety department, and I built it into a police department. When I went to Indiana University Kokomo, my mission there was to build that department.”
During Selby’s time at Butler, one of his officers was shot and killed. Even though the situation was difficult for him, Selby believes that a positive did come out of the tragic situation.
“Dealing with that whole situation was difficult. But out of it came new legislation that gave equivalent death benefits to police officers on private universities,” Selby said.
Selby said that he has felt a sense of community since he arrived at UIndy.
“UIndy’s more my type of campus. It’s the right size for me … Students that go here are great. My visits to this campus have always been very positive,” he said. “When I was interviewing, I remember, I came here a couple of times and just walked around and talked to students and got their input about the place.”
Vitangeli is glad that Selby feels welcome to campus and believes that anyone who visits UIndy will feel the sense of community.
“It speaks highly of UIndy. I think most people say that about UIndy when they come. So to me it’s a pretty natural thing that people typically come here and feel pretty connected. And that’s why there are so many of us who have stuck around at UIndy, because it is such a great place to work,” Vitangeli said.
Selby has many plans for campus, such as making police officers more visible, having more full time officers, getting officers out of cars and walking through buildings on campus, working with the cadet program and many more. One of Selby’s main goals is to create programming that would teach students living in the residence halls about safety.
“That’s what it’s all about, protecting our community. I walk around here, and I’ve only been here going on three weeks, and I hear all kinds of stuff,” Selby said. “Students come up to me and tell me stuff. You’re accessible. Visibility is huge for me.”
Along with making officers more visible on campus, Selby wants to look into putting officers on bicycles to give them more direct accessibility.
“I love bicycles. You’ll see me on a bike because police officers are so much more accessible and you’re more likely to stop and talk to me if you see me standing there with a bike rather than sitting in a police car,” Selby said.
Selby also wants to work more closely with the criminal justice department to get cadets more involved, update current UIndy policies and make sure that current officers are fully trained.
Vitangeli believes that Selby will be a good fit for the campus and will be a good choice for the role of police chief.
“He had significant campus experiences at campuses that have faced similar things that we do,” Vitangeli said. “Personality-wise, he was a good fit in terms of someone who really enjoys getting to know people, making his way around campus and having connections with lots of people. He’s very student-focused.”
Even though Selby started out as a school teacher, he enjoys law enforcement more and is optimistic about his new position.
“I like that excitement of law enforcement. I like the excitement in the sense of community of schools. That’s how I got here,” Selby said. “It [UIndy] is like a city. It’s a community. And where do you get that in any other type of job? That’s what really has always kept me here. And once I got started, it’s been really easy for me to stay.”
