Douglas Tripp named third University of Iowa public safety finalist

IOWA CITY — The senior director of safety and security for the nation's 10th largest school district is the third finalist for the University of Iowa's vacant director of public safety position.

Douglas Tripp, in charge of safety and security for Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Fla., is on the UI campus Monday and Tuesday to interview for head of the institution's Department of Public Safety. He's one of four finalists whose names are being released publicly before their visits.

The first two candidates were in Iowa City each of the past two weeks, and a fourth finalist is scheduled to visit Thursday and Friday. Administrators have said they hope to hire a new director before the end of the budget year in June, which comes about four months after replacing their former interim director, Dave Visin, in March amid controversy.

Tripp since 2013 has been in charge of safety and security for the Orange County school district, which serves nearly 200,000 students — both K-12 and adult learners at Orange Technical College — and 23,000 employees on 270 sites. It has an annual combined budget topping $3.5 billion, according to his resume.

The UI position would require leadership and management for a public safety program serving about 32,000 students, more than 22,000 faculty and staff, and thousands of daily visitors and guests — including patients and visitors to the UI Health Care facilities. Before his time in Florida, Tripp served as executive director of public safety for the University of Oregon, where he worked in a variety of roles between 2007 and 2012. In his resume, he highlighted the experience working on a state flagship campus, nationally recognized by the American Association of Universities and boasting a prominent intercollegiate athletics program.

At that institution, he was responsible for parking and transportation, campus security, university police, and the communications and emergency response center, according to his resume.

He also has directed public safety departments at Milwaukee Area Technical College, Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Denver, and was assistant director at Marquette University. He earned a master's degree at the University of Wisconsin, according to his resume.

The first candidate announced for the UI director position was Marc Cossich, executive director of public safety and chief of police at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Adam Garcia, director of police services at the University of Nevada in Reno, Nev., was the second named finalist.

Whoever is chosen for the UI job will report to Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Rod Lehnertz and will oversee about 75 employees, including 25 police officers and 19 security officers.

Former UI public safety Director Chuck Green retired in January 2015, and Visin was appointed his interim amid other significant changes in UI leadership — including the retirement of former UI President Sally Mason.

Visin remained in the interim position through searches for a new UI president and vice president for finance and operations, but Lehnertz in March replaced him with UI police chief Lucy Wiederholt after news broke of Visin's alleged interference with an investigation involving his stepson.

Visin is accused of driving his stepson, Sean Crane, away from a Johnson County sheriff's deputy on June 25 after Crane was involved in a hit-and-run. Authorities arrived at Crane's home to investigate the collision shortly after Crane left in a car with Visin. When a deputy called Visin on his call and asked him to pull over, Visin refused, according to an incident report.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness met with Visin and Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek shortly after the incident occurred, and Lyness declined to file charges. She also spoke with Lehnertz in July about the incident, but Lehnertz said Visin was not removed from his position because he wasn't facing criminal charges and didn't violate university policies.

Visin was replaced in March, after the incident became public, as Lehnertz said it allowed the department 'to remain focused on the work of creating a safe environment for our students, faculty, and staff.'