Blair Barfuss named as USU chief of police
After “a rigorous national search,” Utah State University announced Blair Barfuss as the new USU Department of Public Safety chief of police on May 20.
Barfuss will assume the position on July 5 and will join USU after serving as the chief of police and director of public safety at Utah Tech University—formerly Dixie State University—for the past four years.
According to the university’s announcement, Barfuss has also served in various commander roles, SWAT team leader, homicide investigations supervisor and a major crimes investigator.
He has also worked for the past seven years as a member of the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and is cross deputized as a federal agent with the FBI.
And that’s not all. St. George News reported, Barfuss gained local recognition in 2021 for his extreme efforts to design new strategies to strengthen the relationship between the campus community and the police department, and received the First Responder Award
He was also recognized earlier this year for bringing Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement—or the ABLE Project—to Utah and is a national instructor.
The project was created to prevent police misconduct, promote office health and wellness and prepare police to successfully intervene in a variety of scenarios.
According to ABC4 in January, Barfuss was responsible for Dixie State becoming the first agency in the state to be ABLE certified and helped train other local officers.
But coming to Logan for this new role won’t be Barfuss’s first time on-campus.
The Aggie alum graduated with a master’s degree in human resources from USU in 2011 after graduating with a bachelor’s in criminal justice administration from Columbia College and before graduating from the FBI National Academy.
“This Aggie is beyond excited to have the honor and privilege of getting to work with and support our Utah State University students, staff, faculty, administration, and our great Aggie community,” Barfuss said in the announcement. “I look forward to the many opportunities ahead in bettering our service capabilities and improving safety campus wide at Utah State University.”
This news follows a department leadership restructure in February that split the chief of police position into two—chief of police and executive director for public safety.
Michael Keuhn has already been announced as the executive director for public safety and expressed his excitement about Barfuss.
“Chief Barfuss brings a wealth of experience to USU, particularly in areas of concern that receive a great deal of attention in higher education: student mental health and sexual violence,” Keuhn said in USU’s announcement.
And Keuhn wasn’t alone in his enthusiasm. Captain Kent Harris, the USU interim chief of police, said the department and university is lucky to welcome Barfuss.
“I agree with the search committee’s decision for him to be our next chief,” Harris said. “He is familiar with university policing already and understands the complexities of how policing, Victims Advocates, Clery, Title IX, Student Affairs, etc. work together in keeping our university safe.”
Harris said that knowing Barfuss personally, he can testify that even outside of past professional experiences, he knows he’ll be a great addition.
“His personality and leadership style will be a very good fit within our department,” Harris said.
After reaching out to Barfuss for a comment, he politely declined until he is an official USU employee on July 5.
In this role, Barfuss will lead functions of the university police at both the Logan and USU Eastern campus.
-Jacee.Caldwell@usu.edu
Featured photo by: Paige Johnson