One of two candidates vying for the position of UAPD chief presented at a town meeting at the UA on Monday.
The meeting was held in the Student Union Memorial Center and included a presentation and Q&A with candidate Cmdr. Gregg Jacquin of the Chandler Police Department. A meeting for the second candidate, University of Arizona Police Department Cmdr. Brian Seastone, will be held on Wednesday.
“I did grow up in Tucson,” Jacquin said. “I certainly understand how important UA is to Tucson and the greater community and to the state of Arizona.”
Jacquin said he attended high school at Tucson High Magnet School and undergraduate school at the UA. After working a variety of both public service and municipal jobs, Jacquin said that he has done everything.
“I think I bring a breadth of experience to the university environment,” Jacquin said.
Jacquin began working at the Chandler Police Department in 1995, and said that working there was the best thing he’s ever done. It’s ideal for him to work in a place that he cares about, he added.
“Very rarely do you get the opportunity to cultivate your career in a place you grew up, in a place you love, in a place you participated in,” Jacquin said.
Jacquin cited some general policies he would implement if elected chief, but said that the basis of his platform is assessment and community development.
“This department is only as relevant as you allow it to be,” Jacquin said. “There is no constituency on this campus that is more or less important.”
Jacquin touched on several issues he sees as important on the UA campus. He said he would ideally like to perform daily threat assessments to protect students and school assets. These assessments would be based in interdepartmental communication and assessments of unconventional threats, like cyber crimes.
“We need to leverage technology in this environment,” Jacquin said.
As for the controversial legislation that would allow guns on campus if passed, Jacquin does not approve. He said that in an active-shooter situation, armed citizens create chaos for the first responding police officers.
“I’m just not sure it leads to a safer environment for us,” Jacquin said.
Jacquin said that no one is ever certain what the biggest threat will be, but that he has an obligation to anticipate what those threats might be on a situational basis.
“I have a fundamental obligation to keep the guests, the people who live on this campus and the students safe,” he said.
Jacquin said that UAPD is already doing a good job, but that he would like to create a community between the UAPD and all of the other departments of the UA, both on and off campus.
“You do three things in life: fair, consistent and honest, and you do not lose,” Jacquin said.
