New interim police chief at Utah Tech sets benchmark of excellence in academic policing – St George News

ST. GEORGE — An interim chief of police has been sworn in at Utah Tech University, a 23-year veteran of law enforcement and former captain of the department.

Ronald Bridge will take the helm of an agency geared toward excellence, as evidenced by the international recognition the department received in June.

Bridge, the school’s former police captain, was sworn in as the interim Chief of the Utah Tech University Police Department by St. George Police Chief Kyle Whitehead during the Aug. 5  ceremony.

During an interview with St. George News, Bridge said he had asked Whitehead to do the honors, since they work so closely with the St. George Police Department in many instances and have an excellent working relationship with local law enforcement, as well as with agencies across the county.

The road to becoming the new interim chief began a few months ago, after the former police chief, Blair Barfuss, accepted a position with another university police department up north. That is when Utah Tech began the process of selecting a new interim chief internally, Bridge said.

It was at that point that he decided to apply for the position.

Bridge joined Utah Tech’s police department in 2018 as an administrative sergeant, he said, shortly after Barfuss was appointed as the department’s chief of police. Bridge and Barfuss had worked together for years while serving on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, or ICAC, a multi-jurisdictional task force that targets individuals who use the internet to exploit children.

Within a few weeks of completing the application process, Bridge said he received the call he had hoped for –  he was the candidate selected. The call elicited an emotional reaction soon accompanied by a deep sense of pride at being chosen to lead a department of six officers and 13 reserve officers who also serve with law enforcement agencies across Washington County.

Bridge said her will focus on establishing a more holistic, community-based approach to policing, and he also would like to broaden the collaborative efforts that have been established between his department and the other departments within the university.

“Our primary role here is to make sure the campus is safe for the students – from within and without,” Bridge said.

He also said he is looking forward to working with his “outstanding officers” who have continued to strive for excellence while serving the college community, one which is unique and provides so many opportunities to interact with the students in a positive way.

“Our department puts on events for the students, and our officers also attend many events,” he said. “We even sit in the stands and cheer with these kids.”

He also said he is looking forward to taking on more of a mentorship role within the department, which would allow him the opportunity to guide his officers as they continue in their law enforcement careers.

“I’m not going to be in this profession forever,” Bridge said. “And I would be honored to know that I took part in preparing these officers to take my position here someday.”

Bridge has been very active since he started with the department three years ago – efforts that have resulted in international accreditations.

The most recent was awarded last month, when Bridge received the Administrative Excellence Award from the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators – an accreditation project that was two years in the making.

After providing confirmation of the department’s aptitude involving daily law enforcement operations, the department was awarded the IACLEA Accreditation, which Bridge said is awarded to only 7% of all collegiate police departments across the country and the only university law enforcement agency that earned this accreditation in Utah.

The years-long process involved evaluations of both the police department and the university that had a listed enrollment of roughly 12,000 students at the beginning of the current academic year.  The accreditation also serves as a testament to the outstanding service and crime prevention efforts displayed by his officers on a daily basis, Bridge added.

In 2019, the campus police department became the first in Utah to receive an official accreditation from the state’s Chiefs of Police Association, a designation geared towards increasing transparency and setting high standards – an award that essentially put a seal of approval on the university.

As part of the vetting process, the campus police force opened up its policies and facilities to the association, which determined that the department had met or exceeded industry best practices on 168 different “points of proof,” after the biggest hurdle was overcome – which was to create a manual of policies and procedures – the first of its kind for the department.

Through the department’s efforts, the Utah Tech Police Department is a leader in university law enforcement that is not only focused on professionals and a commitment to public safety, Bridge said, but is also committed to portraying the human side of policing.

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