USU chief of police final candidates
Utah State University is currently assessing candidates to fill the open chief of police position at the university’s police department.
University administration began looking for candidates after the resignation of former Police Chief Earl Morris in December 2021. Morris faced public scrutiny after making comments to the USU football team regarding sexual assault.
Since then, the university has narrowed down its applicant pool to three candidates who each held a student town hall and public presentation between May 2 and May 4.
John Sherman
John Sherman
He spent 17 of these years as a commanding officer responsible for community engagement and police oversight, and finished with the LAPD as the deputy chief for the Valley Bureau, LAPD’s largest jurisdictional division.
While with the LAPD, Sherman received local, state and federal incident management training and used such training as a member of several local and state incident management teams.
After being honorably discharged after seven years in the United States Marine Corps, Sherman earned a bachelor’s degree in business management in 1994 from the University of Phoenix.
Throughout his law enforcement career, Sherman has completed 11 different law enforcement schools.
He has also served on several LAPD boards and organizations, including the Use of Force Review Board from 2010 to 2018, the Executive Development Fund Committee from 2014 to 2018, and the Office of Operations-Inspection Cadre Committee from 2008 to 2010.
“I have always been a very community oriented police officer in Los Angeles,” Sherman said. “From my first days of sitting in someone’s living room when I was a young police officer having a neighborhood watch meetings to, throughout my career, having larger gatherings and groups and talking about relationships and partnerships and those sorts of things.”
Sherman currently serves as the director for safety and security for Real Life Church Ministries.
Blair Barfuss
Blair Barfuss
Barfuss has been a law enforcement officer in the state of Utah for 21 years, most recently as the chief of police at Utah Tech University—formerly Dixie State University—.
His roles and operational capacities have ranged from being a training unit commander, SWAT team leader, and patrol commander to being a special victims’ investigator, community services officer, and homicide investigations supervisor.
Barfuss has also been cross-deputized as a federal agent since 2016 and has served on the FBI’s child exploitation and human trafficking task force.
After earning a bachelor’s degree with academic honors in criminal justice administration from Columbia College in 2009, Barfuss went on to earn his master’s degree with academic honors in human resources from USU in 2011.
As a law enforcement officer, Barfuss has earned several awards, including Chief of the Year from the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, the Commitment to Diversity Dixie Award from then Dixie State University, and the NAACP First Responders Appreciation Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP.
“I never wanted and sought out to be a leader, but I experienced really bad leadership and saw how it negatively affected the department as a whole,” Barfuss said. “I learned the value of the individual to the organization, and once you learn that people are the only thing that’s really of worth in an organization then everything you’re going to do is to support those people.”
Barfuss continues to serve as the police chief at Utah Tech University.
Danielle Croyle
Danielle Croyle
Croyle has been a law enforcement officer for over 20 years, most recently as the public information officer and training coordinator for the South Salt Lake City Police Department.
Throughout her career as a law enforcement officer, Croyle has developed skills in incident command, SWAT negotiation, emergency and risk management, domestic violence and sexual assault investigation.
Croyle was also cross-deputized as a federal agent in 2018 and previously served as the administrative officer for the Salt Lake City field office.
Croyle earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Weber State University in 1996.
She has also served in the community in various roles, including as a current commissioner for the board of directors for UServe Utah, a member of the Weber State University Social and Behavioral Science Advancement Board, and is formerly the president of the WSU alumni association board of directors.
Croyle has earned several awards for her work, including the Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Leadership Award in 2021, the Juvenile Justice Community Service Award, and a certificate of commendation from the U.S. Attorney General.
“I’m more of a doer. I see things that need to be fixed or what needs to change and I want to make it happen quick,” Coyle said. “There’s a lot to do; I want to get it done and I’m anxious to get it done. I’m compassionate and passionate about where I see things going in this police department.”
Croyle continues to serve with the Salt Lake City Police Department.
-Michael.Popa@usu.edu
Featured photo from: Utah State Today