Syracuse University named Tony Callisto chief of Public Safety on Tuesday, after a nationwide search and interviews early last week with two other candidates. Callisto has held the position on an interim basis for more than a year.

‘He’s been changing the culture to a more community-oriented unit and that’s really what we want on a campus,’ said Eleanor Ware, senior vice president of human services and government relations.

Ware received a short note from Thomas Wolfe, head of the search committee and dean of Hendricks Chapel, Friday afternoon affirming the group’s decision to hire Callisto on a permanent basis.

‘Tony had the best qualities and the best expertise to become director of Public Safety,’ was essentially the message of the memo, Ware said.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor approved the decision and Callisto accepted Monday morning.

Callisto was competing against John Upton and David Dray, both of whom were in Syracuse for interviews Monday and Tuesday of last week, Wolfe said.

Upton is an adviser for Operational Support Services Law Enforcement Advisors and deputy constable of Harris County, Texas. Lt. David Dray is currently a shift supervisor for the Department of Public Safety at Westfield State College in Massachusetts.

Compared to both, Callisto had ‘the whole comprehensive piece and of course, a year track record,’ Wolfe said. ‘He just has widespread support from the community and student support.

The university hired Callisto in December 2005 as deputy director under Marlene Hall, who stepped down from her position as chief a year later to become the chief of police at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Before that, Callisto worked for 25 years at the Onondaga County Sheriff’s office.

In his time as interim chief, which he assumed in March 2006, Callisto has overseen the transition of Public Safety officers to peace officer status, improved investigations and crime prevention and developed relationships with the Syracuse Police Department and the Sheriff’s office, Ware said.

‘He’s really improved the way we do investigations,’ she said. ‘We now have a team of investigators, and I think that works much better.’

Callisto will continue to assess staffing and deployment within Public Safety, Ware said. ‘Until you are the permanent and full chief, you don’t want to get into assessing the administrative structure as much as you would want to,’ she said.

But Callisto said his job won’t change other than that he knows he’ll be able to see the results of his work.

In addition to recently starting the Orange Watch program, which increases Public Safety’s presence in the neighborhoods around campus, Callisto intends to establish a community policing station on South Campus and implement diversity training among his staff.

The chief thanked his officers and supervisors for the fact that he can now remove the term ‘interim’ from his title. ‘I’m evaluated on their performance, and they performed in a stellar way this year,’ he said.

Published on June 3, 2007 at 12:00 pm