Officials in the ASU police department said they hope the consolidation of forces from ASU Main, East and West will provide students and members of the University with more efficient service.
Each campus has three different departments and chiefs reporting to three different administrative bodies, said Ray Jensen, assistant vice president for administration and business services.
"The consolidation is looking to implement consistency in our law enforcement practice," Jensen said. "We want to make sure the way we handle issues at East and West are the same as how we handle them at Main."
The police chiefs from ASU East and West are now division commanders and ASU Main police Chief John Pickens will oversee the new combined unit.
"It allows us to do more with the same resources," Pickens said of the reorganization. "It also allows us to share specialty personnel and resources, such as detectives and evidence technicians. We can also share patrol personnel when needed such as covering special events, vacations and times with officers are out sick."
Jensen added that the merged police departments means record keeping, officer training and radio dispatching will be "far better managed centrally."
Combining the police forces will save money for the University, but Jensen said the main objective is "operating efficiency."
Jensen said students should not notice a significant change from the reorganization, but added that officers would now have blue uniforms instead of tan; a more "modern shift" that will make officers more recognizable to the public.
The three campuses had their own police service because each was developed with separate funding resources when they were established.
"We are moving in a direction, under President [Michael] Crow to look at the multi campus more as a single university," Jensen said. "This change is more consistent with our vision for the University."
Reach the reporter at lynh.bui@asu.edu.
