Tulsa Public Schools have announced that former Salina Police Chief Jim Hill has been selected as the new chief of the Campus Police Department, pending approval by the Board of Education.
A selection committee comprised of principals, administrators, community members and other TPS leadership unanimously selected Hill as the top candidate.
“Mr. Hill comes to us with extensive law enforcement experience as a police chief in Salina, Kansas, where he worked collaboratively with community stakeholders and had a very successful career,” said Superintendent Dr. Keith Ballard.
After serving 22 years as chief of police for the Salina Police Department, Hill recently moved to the Tulsa area to be closer to his son, who is a sergeant with the Tulsa Police Department, and grandchildren. In Salina, Hill oversaw a force of 113 personnel members serving the community’s 50,000 residents.
The Tulsa Public Schools Campus Police Department was created in 2008 after the Board of Education decided to create a professional police agency to increase the level of safety and security for students, faculty and staff of TPS. With the aid of federal and other grants, the department flourished to more than 50 personnel, including 23 sworn officers. Since its inception, the department has annually reduced the number of student arrests thanks to the proactive efforts of school resource officers stationed in primarily high school buildings.
TPS CPD now includes a state-of-the-art communication and security center in the Education Service Center, an emergency management director, a Gang Resistance Education And Training (GREAT) instructor, and a crew of security technicians maintaining more than 44,000 intrusion and fire alarms and almost 3,000 security cameras as well as police radio communications equipment.
Just this week, the Campus Police Department received an Award of Certification from the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police Law Enforcement Accreditation Program. TPS CPD is the first public school police department to be recognized under this program.
Hill succeeds former Chief Gary Rudick, who retired from the TPS CPD in January. The board will vote on Hill’s selection on June 2 and, if approved, Chief Hill will begin work on June 3.