ASU Police settles into new home

Late last year, ASU Police settled into its new facility that is nearly double the size of its former space on the Tempe campus. Along with a more visible location, the 40,000-square-foot building provides joint-use meeting space to conduct forums and presentations for ASU students, faculty and staff; additional suspect/victim interview rooms and space for in-service training; improved detention, evidence and records rooms; and an enhanced communications center with better interoperability between other Valley law enforcement and fire agencies.

“The new facility and its location demonstrate that safety and security is a top priority for Arizona State University,” says Police Chief John Pickens.

“We have a much more prominent location to make it easier for students, faculty and staff to find us in times of an emergency,” adds assistant chief Jay Spradling.

For the first time, the university has a permanent Emergency Operations Center (EOC) within the new police station. It’s operation-ready and can be activated upon a moment’s notice, enhancing the university’s response during major emergency situations.

“Most major cities have an EOC,” says Spradling. “This is where all major decision-makers for the university come together to run operations in an emergency situation, such as a public health crisis, major fire or explosion on campus.”

“Our new police station give police officers the opportunity to strengthen our community partnerships,” adds Pickens.

ASU Police is a full-service police department, with an on-site communications center and several specialized units or programs, including investigations, crime prevention, training, patrol, police aide and campus security assistant.

The 24-hour operation consists of 152 full-time employees, 71 of which are sworn peace officers with primary law enforcement jurisdiction on all of ASU’s campuses.

ASU Police maintains international accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) by complying with 459 professional established requirements.

The new address for the ASU Police station is 325 E. Apache Boulevard. The mail code is 1812, and the phone number is (480) 965-3456 and 9-1-1 for emergencies. The Web site is www.asu.edu/police.