Benjamin Hunter has been appointed the new IU superintendent of public safety and plans to formally assume the position Jan. 2, 2017. He hopes to immediately begin working with all aspects of community at the main and regional IU campuses.
A 1994 IU Police Academy graduate, Hunter said he looks forward to coming home.
“To be able to go back to IU is, it sounds silly, but it is a dream job for me,” Hunter said.
The superintendent of public safety is responsible for strategy, policy and common practices for public safety across IU, including its 135 sworn IU Police Department officers and the Police Academy.
“The superintendent translates the always-evolving profession into campus-oriented operations and ensures that university leadership is kept fully aware of safety conditions on every campus,” said John Applegate, executive vice president for university academic affairs, in a press release. “Ben Hunter’s breadth of experience will serve him and Indiana University particularly well in this key role.”
Hunter applied months ago and was selected by a search and screen committee. They began evaluating candidates when former superintendent Jerry Minger announced his retirement and stepped down in February. IUPD Indianapolis’s Chief Bob True is filling the interim position.
“For the first few weeks, obviously, it’ll be me getting up to speed,” Hunter said. “Not having worked for the organization since 22 years ago, there’s a lot I need to learn.”
Over the past two decades, Hunter has worked with the Indianapolis Police Department and City-County Council, as well as Butler University. There, he served as director of public safety and chief of police, acted as chief of staff to the president and oversaw the university’s Department of Public Safety and University Events office.
Shortly after arriving at Butler, the university basketball team made it to the Final Four, and Indianapolis hosted the tournament. The first people Hunter called for help in security planning were his colleagues at IU.
Now, he looks forward to working directly with these colleagues he respects and admires.
“In my mind, it’s one of these jobs you just really can’t say no to,” Hunter said. “I do take the job very seriously, and the things that keep me up at night are making sure that we’re doing everything we can to ensure we have a safe environment for faculty, staff, students and visitors.”
IUPD is vastly different from when he graduated and has become more community oriented, Hunter said. Recently, he has returned as an IU Police Academy guest instructor for community policing.
“It takes a lot of strategic planning and working with organizations outside of IU and within IU,” he said. “I look forward to learning all the student groups on the different campuses and trying to integrate our public safety planning with them, as well.”
Hunter said he has always known he wanted to go into law enforcement and has always loved training and education.
“To me, to mold two things I love — law enforcement and community policing — together in different ways and define different programs that work is an exciting opportunity,” Hunter said. “To do it on a larger scale at IU is a dream.”
