A PROUD HISTORY OF SERVICE
DEPARTMENT HISTORY
The Storrs Agricultural School was founded in 1881. In its early days, the school was small, with only a handful of buildings; a small population of faculty, students, and staff; and located in the bucolic Town of Mansfield in rural Eastern Connecticut. There is no historical mention of a protective presence at the school, or indeed a need for one, at that time.
The earliest mention of a person responsible for protection at the school is in 1906 when Charles Hobby, a Night Watchman, thwarted an attempted burglary of the President’s Office in the Main Building. Several different Night Watchmen, who were not sworn officers, kept watch over the campus in its early years.
In 1940, the school began experiencing problems with increased vehicle traffic and parking on the campus. That, and the impending entrance of the United States into World War II, led to the decision to employ a sworn officer to protect the school, which by now was known as the University of Connecticut. Special Constable Leland Cable, who had come from the Connecticut State Police, was hired as the first sworn police officer to patrol the campus. The first office for UConn Security, as it was known then, was set up in the basement of Koons Hall.
Slowly, more officers were hired to supplement the UConn force. In 1948, Lawrence Goodale, who was the second officer employed by UConn beginning in 1942, was named the Chief of UConn Security. A university building on Glenbrook Road was renovated in 1948 and became the Security Building, which housed both the UConn Police and Fire Departments. UConn officers were sworn in as Special State Policemen by the Commissioner of the State Police, with powers of arrest on all UConn property.
In 1970, the Ashe House, an old farmhouse at 1501 Storrs Road, was renovated and became Security Headquarters. The UConn Security force became the UConn Police Department on April 28, 1972, by an Act of the Connecticut State Legislature (CGS 10a-142, later 10a-156b,) fully supported by UConn President Homer Babbidge. The UConn Police eventually opened substations at its Regional campuses in Hartford, Waterbury, Stamford, and Avery Point.
The UConn Police established a well-publicized and highly successful horse Mounted Patrol Unit from 1973-1980 and again from 1990-1993. This was a natural fit for UConn due to its agricultural school roots and the breeding, raising, and care of animals on campus. Unfortunately, the unit fell victim both times to budget cuts and staffing shortfalls.
A new, expanded Public Safety Complex was built at 126 North Eagleville Road to reunite the UConn Police and Fire Departments under one roof, and opened in 1992.
The UConn Health Center Police Department in Farmington, which had been a separate department formed in 1972, merged with the UConn Police as of January 1, 2018, under the “One UConn” initiative. Officers of the now-unified UConn Police Department wear the same uniform, drive the same marked vehicles, and are guided by the same policies and procedures.
The UConn Police have been fully CALEA Accredited since 2000, and have a robust Community Policing program, which includes the state’s first Police Facility Dog Program.
Today, the UConn Division of University Safety is comprised of the UConn Police, Fire, Emergency Management, Fire Marshal & Building Inspector, Environmental Health & Safety, Emergency Communications, Security Services, and Business Services, under the leadership of the Associate Vice President of University Safety.