Second finalist for University of Iowa public safety director on campus

IOWA CITY - A second of four finalists is on campus today and tomorrow to interview for the UI Department of Public Safety director position, a role the interim director recently vacated amid controversy.

Adam Garcia, director of police services at the University of Nevada in Reno, Nev., is the second of four candidates expected to visit the UI campus. Although he's been in Nevada since 2001, Garcia has spent significant time closer to Iowa in Michigan, where he went to school and served as director of public safety for the City of Center Line, Mich., from 1998 to 2001.

The UI department's first candidate, Marc Cossich, was on campus last week. He is executive director of public safety and chief of police at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Two more finalists are expected to visit campus on May 9 and 10 and on May 12 and 13, according to UI officials. The university is releasing the names of each finalist before his or her visit, and administrators hope to hire a new director before the end of the budget year in June.

Garcia boasts more than 30 years of law enforcement, fire service, and emergency management training, education, and experience. Before his director roles, Garcia served as a university patrol officer and as a sergeant and lieutenant with the Saginaw, Michigan Police Department.

He has a handful of criminal justice degrees, including a master's degree from Saginaw Valley State University. He also has received extensive training in leadership and incident command and served on numerous boards and associations.

Whoever the university chooses for its next UI Department of Public Safety director will be responsible for leading a public safety program committed to the security of about 32,000 students, more than 22,000 faculty and staff, and thousands of daily visitors and guests.

He or she will report to Senior Vice President for Finance of 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 David Visin had been serving as interim director until March - when he was replaced amid controversy.

Lucy Wiederholt, who had served as associate director and UI police chief since 2010, took over the interim role after news broke of Visin's alleged attempts to interfere with a Johnson County Sheriff's Office investigation of his stepson.

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

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness met with Visin and Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek to discuss the incident shortly after. Lyness also spoke with Lehnertz in July about the incident, and Visin independently disclosed the events to his superiors.

Lyness decided not to file charges, and Lehnertz said Visin was not removed from his position because he wasn't facing criminal charges and hadn't violated university policies.

Visin was replaced in his interim role in March after the incident became public and began causing a distraction. In a statement, Lehnertz said Wiederholt took over 'to allow the UI Department of Public Safety to remain focused on the work of creating a safe environment for our students, faculty, and staff.”