Pictured left to right: Public Safety Director Steven Romero, Dispatcher Aimee Bloch, Lieutenant Juan Torres-Garcia, Officer Shawn Valentine and Assistant Director Brett Windsor

 

When Steve Romero, director of public safety and compliance, joined the Davenport Public Safety team a year and a half ago, he had a specific goal, to build a culture of connection, safety and trust. Since that time, he has done more than that through changes to the department, big and small, while maintaining a consistent focus on collaboration, community engagement and professional development.

During his first year and a half in the position, Romero has raised the standard for recruitment and personnel selection, strengthened the department’s culture and public presence and elevated the level of training and development for the team.

“Public safety at a university is unique because our job is about much more than responding to an incident,” Romero said. “Safety is paramount. But it’s also about building relationships and trust with students, faculty, staff and families so they know we are here to support them. When people know us, trust us and feel comfortable coming to us, we can do our job much more effectively.”

Under Romero’s leadership, the department has seen substantial growth.

When Romero assumed his position, there were 11 full-time and nine part-time officers in the department. Since then, they’ve added another full-time position and seven part-time officers. The department now includes active and retired duty officers from Kent County, Michigan Department of Corrections probation personnel, part-time military personnel and a retired air marshal.

Each campus has a designated staff, supported by additional resources at the W.A. Lettinga Grand Rapids Campus.

“We’ve built a professional culture that has attracted some great additional team members,” Romero said. “Many are actively serving in local law enforcement, military services, probation and higher education who understand how to connect with younger populations and young adults.”

One of the department’s biggest areas of focus has been increasing community engagement.

The department has hosted more on-campus events, including a First Responder Leadership Program, National Night Out and other nonprofit and community organization events and off-campus social events to engage the community and share Davenport’s vision and service offerings.

“Another change we’ve made is to the agency’s culture and the public’s perspective of the department,” Romero said. “There was a gap between our agency’s engagement with the campus population and the community. We’ve substantially changed that.”

That change has been recognized by the Davenport community, with Public Safety receiving back-to-back awards during the annual DavenFest recognition event.

“We’re now perceived as a high-performing and civically engaged department, both on and off campus,” Romero said. “That’s something I’m very proud of because it reflects the work of the entire team.”

In addition to community engagement, Romero has placed an added emphasis on professional development.

The department has elevated its approach to training and development, encouraging team members to pursue top-tier training opportunities at state and national conferences. The goal is to continually increase the skills and capabilities of the department at every level.

“We want our people to have access to the best training available and to continually develop their skills,” said Romero. “The standard has been elevated at every level within the department.”

The department is also focused on developing a more technology-focused public safety operation to increase the overall safety of students, faculty, staff and community members on all Davenport campuses. 

It has expanded its closed-circuit television system, adding cameras in strategic locations. At the Warren campus, for example, the expanded system provides visibility beyond the property line and eliminates a previous blind spot.

The department continually evaluates its technology and infrastructure to determine where equipment needs to be repaired, replaced or expanded. The goal is to provide Public Safety with the ability to monitor all Davenport campuses from Grand Rapids around the clock.

A new emergency alert button system is also being deployed, beginning with the Grand Rapids campus and expanding to Davenport’s satellite campuses. The system will allow students and employees to alert Public Safety in real time to medical or crisis situations. It adds another layer of protection to existing security measures, including cameras and blue-light emergency phones.

One of the projects Romero is most excited about is the first phase of Davenport’s first on-campus emergency operations center.

The initial phase includes new computers, monitoring screens and connectivity with county and state emergency management agencies, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for information related to environmental hazards.

The emergency operations center is expected to be developed in three phases, with the goal of creating a fully operational center within the Public Safety department over the next 12 to 18 months, depending on the infrastructure needed.

“This will give us another level of capability when responding to a significant situation on campus,” Romero said. “The goal is to have the information, technology and connections we need in one place so we can make better decisions and respond more effectively.”

For Romero, who spent his 33-year law enforcement career in California and Oregon before moving to Michigan, the advancements are ultimately about creating a public safety department that is prepared for the future.

“I want us to be a premier agency,” he said. “That means having the right people, providing them with the right training and giving them the technology and resources they need to do their jobs at the highest level.”