On Sept. 1 John Milby took the rank as Furman’s new chief of police. Milby replaced Tom Saccenti, who recently accepted the same position at the University of West Georgia.

Milby started law enforcement in Carson City, Nevada in 1990. For 25 years, Milby was involved with investigations, internal affairs, patrol and ran a jail for the sheriff’s office.

In 2015, Milby joined Furman’s department, originally replacing Assistant Chief David Enter.

This year, FUPO is concentrating on making connections with students.

“I think we continue to really focus on a relationship with students,” Milby said. “Students are the folks that we are here to serve and we have always had an approach that is based on community oriented policing.”

This includes meeting cops and building relationships with the police department. A recent example of an event was King of Pops with Cops, which was held earlier this semester.

However, community oriented policing also involves officers interacting with students at CLPs or in the Dining Hall.

“We’re going to try to refocus on us being where you guys already are,” Milby said.

One of the police department’s priorities this year in regards to safety is to inform students on sexual violence and how to prevent it.

Milby spoke with the freshman class during fall orientation. Milby touched on the safety precautions that would be taken if an active shooter was on campus. However, the conversation expanded into more public safety concerns, like sexual assault.

The department as a whole will focus on “letting our community that we serve – students, faculty staff- have input into what our enforcement priorities are,” Milby said.

In addition to involving the community, Chief Milby wants to collaborate with Chief Diversity Officer Michael Jennings “to help us bridge potential gaps between us and some of our more diverse groups here on campus,” Milby said.