Veteran campus police commander named chief of UIC Police

Kevin L. Booker, an experienced commander of several Midwest university police forces, has been named chief of police at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His appointment, subject to approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, is effective Jan. 12.

“Mr. Booker is a broadly experienced law-enforcement professional who has had a richly varied portfolio of responsibilities at several institutions in diverse settings,” said Mark Donovan, vice chancellor for administrative services at UIC. Booker has also had specialized training in crisis and emergency management, community policing strategies, hostage negotiations, and event security management, Donovan said, including training at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Booker is currently deputy chief of field services at the University of Chicago, where he has also served as deputy chief of support services and commander for community services and patrol services. Before he came to Chicago he was lieutenant of operations and training with the Purdue University West Lafayette Police Department. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology and a master’s degree in public administration from Indiana State University, Terre Haute. He began his law enforcement career as a patrol officer with the Indiana State University Police Department in 1997.

At UIC, Booker will be responsible for managing the safety and security of the largest university in Chicago, with 28,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state’s major public medical center. The campus consists of more than 100 buildings on approximately 300 acres just west of Chicago’s Loop.

The UIC Police Department is a force of sworn peace officers accorded by Illinois statute with all the powers possessed by police in cities and by sheriffs, including the power to make arrests on view and on warrants of violations of state statutes and city or county ordinances. The department has a long tradition of community-based policing in partnership with the on- and off-campus community. UIC Police work closely with law enforcement officials from federal, state, county and local jurisdictions and neighboring institutions to provide a secure environment for the community.