Mike Snellgrove promoted to police chief

After nine years in the SMU Police Department, Mike Snellgrove has been named police chief, effective June 1.

Formerly a police captain and assistant chief, Snellgrove has served as interim chief since Aaron Graves left in February to head the police department at the University of Southern California. Graves, who has known Snellgrove since they served together in the U.S. Air Force, has continually recruited his friend to come to Los Angeles up until a week before Snellgrove was appointed SMU police chief, he says.

"SMU has been a great place to work," Snellgrove says. "When the opportunity came up, I jumped at it."

Snellgrove says that established relationships with students and administrators will help him pursue his goals for the department, which include broader involvement in the SMU community through education and crime prevention.

"My goal is to meld security into the daily routine of each individual in the University community," he says. "I want to influence the community mindset in a way that encourages each person to take partial responsibility for campus security by doing such things as securing property, locking doors, reporting suspicious people, and accepting the fact that security practices must be part of our daily lives."

Among Snellgrove's other goals are to increase officer training in such areas as investigation and disaster skills, and to become more involved in such related communities as the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement and Administration (IACLEA), Dallas Law Enforcement, and the Greater Dallas Crime Commission.

Snellgrove has a B.S. degree in criminal justice from Valdosta State University in Georgia. He joined the Air Force Police in 1984 and left active military service in 1992 as a captain. He is certified as a criminal investigator, a law enforcement instructor, and a police firearms instructor. His wife, Lita, is also a police officer for the University Park Police Department, and their son, Justin, will be a high school junior in the fall.

Previous << Page 6 of 10 >> Next

Copyright © 2003 Southern Methodist University. All rights reserved.
Legal Statements and Disclosures

Last updated: Friday, July 11, 2003 10:26 AM