New UCCS police chief Diana Cooley combines 17 years of law enforcement experience with a passion for forming relationships with students.
On Oct. 1, Cooley replaced previous police chief Dewayne McCarver, who resigned over the summer to be closer to his family in Alabama.
As the new chief, Cooley plans to use her experience to help improve the department. “When we look at any police department, … we have set policies in place. But as time goes by, those policies become outdated, and so we want to consistently be ahead of what the best practices are,” she said.
Cooley said the university is in the process of reviewing their emergency management procedures to see what they can improve upon. Then, she said they will look at how they can distribute that information to students, faculty and staff.
Cooley most recently served as the commander of patrol operations for the police department at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
“Coming from Anschutz, it’s, you know, a medical campus, where … they were very focused on what they were doing. So, there wasn’t as much student life [and] student events as there [are] here,” Cooley said. “That’s what really excited me about it is the opportunity to come out to these events and get back out there with a community.”
Community is very important to Cooley. Before Anschutz, she worked at the Aurora Police Department in various leadership positions, including as a public information officer, for 16 years. While there, she worked with the media, different stakeholders in the community and also students. She plans to continue that community engagement at UCCS.
As part of that process, Cooley wants to hold more forums and create an “empowerment guide,” something she did in her time as PIO in Aurora. The guide would compile information about law enforcement, ranging from Constitutional rights to how to handle being contacted by a police officer in various situations.
For her first month, Cooley said she’s spent much of her time meeting with faculty, staff and students to get to know them.
“One of the most important things for me is having those relationships with the student body, so any events where I am welcome, and they want me to come to, I am happy to take that invitation,” Cooley said.
Diana Cooley. Photo courtesy of UCCS Communique.