Over the past decade, the Marquette University Police Department has answered approximately 250,000 service calls with an average clearance rate well above the national average for serious crimes. The department consists of over 80 trained professionals, including 44 sworn law enforcement officers who patrol campus and the nearby neighborhood. Through the President’s Task Force on Community Safety and with a new Behavioral Health Unit, MUPD has strengthened bonds with the Near West Side community, the Milwaukee Police department and the city.
This progress is owed in large part to Marquette’s decision in 2015 to seek commissioning to a recognized police department for what was then the Department of Public Safety.
Fully commissioned
On May 1, the Marquette University Police Department celebrates its 10-year anniversary of being fully commissioned, a distinction that gives the department a greater and more efficient ability to enforce the law and keep campus safe and secure.
Assistant Police Chief Jeff Kranz was hired in 2014 with a big assignment: converting the Department of Public Safety to a fully commissioned police department.
“We started the process in October 2014 and got the department up and running May 1, 2015,” Kranz says. “It was a blast putting it together and really a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Initial planning for the commissioning took years, which involved the university lobbying to change state law allowing for the private police department.
Rana Altenburg, associate vice president of public affairs, and Mary Czech-Mrochinski, senior director of public affairs, worked with then President Robert Wild, S.J., to secure support from law enforcement leaders, state legislators and the governor’s office to change state law to allow for the creation of the Marquette University Police Department. Altenburg says that, ultimately, the effort received unanimous support from every level of law enforcement in Milwaukee County and the Wisconsin attorney general and enjoyed bipartisan sponsorship in the Wisconsin legislature.
“It was an honor to work with so many of our friends in the law enforcement community and legislature to make it possible for Marquette to have a fully commissioned police force,” Altenburg says. “MUPD’s impact from day one to the present is profound and positively contributes to the safety of our neighborhood and the city of Milwaukee. I feel blessed to have played a part in their success and count it among the most important and humbling achievements of my career.”
Kranz’s position focused on securing equipment, providing training certification for staff, and developing department policies and procedures. He studied best practices by visiting other university police departments and smaller local agencies around the area.
“We also leaned on MPD for reporting processes and documentation,” Kranz, a retired MPD sergeant, explains. “I still had friends and family there, so they were an excellent sounding board for ideas. They also provided us with support in the early days. It’s a great partnership.”
It’s a relationship that remains.
“Our partnership over the last decade has been instrumental in making our city a safer place to live, work and play,” says Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman.
Edith Hudson has been the Marquette University Police Chief since 2018. She says relationships, like the one with MPD and the Near West Side Partners, as well as all the individual roles that make the department function every day, are the cornerstones of a successful police force.
“Across all ranks from supervisors, police officers, detectives, public safety officers, dispatchers, to our administrative team and the students who drive the EagleExpress vans, each member of MUPD is committed to the Catholic, Jesuit values of our university and serves as the heart of our department,” Hudson says.
Successful safety initiatives
In 2022, additional resources were made available to MUPD through the President’s Task Force on Community Safety, which was instrumental in helping with safety concerns on campus.
The President’s Task Force allowed the hiring of more police officers to increase patrol visibility on campus, providing additional EagleExpress services helping enhance campus safety by providing free shared rides as an alternative to walking alone, implementing more security cameras and Blue Light phones that connect immediately to MUPD, and developing more building security measures that require MUID swipe access to campus buildings after business hours.
Today there are 1,400 video cameras and 450 Blue Light phones on and near campus.
Capt. Ruth Peterson says the formation of Near West Side Partners in 2014 was a gamechanger for the department, providing a way for anchor institutions in the community around Marquette to work together with MUPD, helping to reduce crime.
Behavioral Health Unit
A new police unit dedicated to mental health crises is another way MUPD has amped up safety efforts in and around campus.
Implemented in January 2023, the Behavioral Health Unit works with the Marquette Counseling Center to provide services for students. In addition, the unit works with community members to connect them with resources other than the criminal justice system when mental health concerns arise.
“With an in-house Behavioral Health Unit, we can work directly with those affected to get them the long-term help and the resources they need — not simply in the moment,” Lt. James Hensley says.
The Behavioral Health Unit allows for mental health-related calls to be directed toward the unit itself and allows patrol officers continue more standard police work, such as addressing calls for service and patrolling the area.
In May of 2022, MUPD adopted Blue, a community support dog. The German shorthair pointer was first introduced to the campus community when he was adopted as a puppy.
“He is simply a dog that provides love and support for our community,” Hudson said at Blue’s swearing in ceremony.
His main duties include bringing comfort to MUPD officers, students, staff and faculty, and helping build relationships among officers, Marquette students and members of our community. He is not a trained police dog, meaning he does not take part in any direct law enforcement efforts.
Taking a moment to reflect on the past decade, Kranz says the department couldn’t have been as successful as it has been without the support of Marquette University.
“Marquette has had our back throughout these last ten years, through the good and the bad. It motivates me to come to work every day,” Kranz says. “Our department will always be a work in progress, but my hope is that we are never afraid to try new things. I hope that we continue to grow and adapt with our community.”
