UWM Police Chief Joe LeMire resigns
UWM Police Chief Joseph LeMire has announced that he has accepted the position of chief of Campus Safety and Police at Elon University in Elon, North Carolina. His last day at UWM will be March 12, 2021. Chief LeMire has accepted this opportunity for professional growth and for family reasons.
Chief LeMire is proud of the growth in professionalism and UWM-community focus achieved by the UWM Police Department under his leadership since 2015. Those accomplishments include:
- Co-development, along with the Dean of Students Office, of classroom safety training for all faculty and instructional staff
- Creation of team policing to include sensitive crimes, community policing and mountain bike patrol
- Implementation of officer-worn body cameras in 2017
- Initiation of the Police Community Advisory Committee
“We are very appreciative of Chief LeMire’s dedicated service and valuable contributions to UWM and wish him much success in his next position,” said Robin Van Harpen, vice chancellor for Finance & Administrative Affairs.
UWM Police Lt. Brian Switala, who has been second in command under Chief LeMire, will serve as the interim chief of the UWM Police Department while a national search is conducted. Lt. Switala has served with the UWM Police Department since 2000 and has led the department’s officer training program and supervision and mentoring of police supervisors. He also has served in a key role related to UWM’s emergency planning and health/safety responses to COVID-19, including overseeing UWM’s community testing clinics and future community vaccination clinic.
UWM will launch a national search for its next police chief as soon as possible, with the assistance of a private search firm experienced in university police chief searches. UWM’s Police Community Advisory Committee will participate in the search for the new chief, including on the search committee, as it is now doing with all supervisory-level searches in the UWM Police Department. The Police Community Advisory Committee’s work will remain a top priority for UWM during the interim period and under a new chief.
