New Public Safety head appointed

The university has hired a former state trooper to head its department of Public Safety.

Albert J. "Skip" Homiak Jr., who previously served as a field operations officer for the Delaware State Police, will serve as the executive director of campus and public safety, a position that includes leadership of the branches of law enforcement, emergency preparedness and occupational health and safety

Homiak said he anticipates that his prior experience will prepare him for his new position as executive director of campus and public safety.

"Essentially, public safety is the same no matter where you're providing professional policing," he said. "You're serving the constituents whether they're in New Castle County, the city of Newark or the campus of the University of Delaware."

Scott Douglass, executive vice president of the university, said Homiak was chosen from a pool of approximately 70 applicants due to his prior professional experience, work ethic and sensitivity to the special needs of the university community.

"In the interviews it came out that he was not only qualified but someone who really had high expectations for himself and the organizations he worked for," Douglass said. "Also, he had a very strategic view of what he would like to accomplish, and I think that he could move this organization to the next level."

Homiak said he plans to take safety to a new plateau by maximizing and utilizing resources such as technology and partnerships with other agencies, though no specific plans have been put into place yet.

"We're going to enhance safety on campus," he said. "It's not going to just stay status quo."

Homiak said the prevalence of crime on campus is not unique to the university, and educating students on the most modern self-defense tactics is imperative to combat modern day criminals.

"In society, we have several people that go out everyday to commit crimes, just like I go to work and students go to school," he said. "You're never going to eliminate those people from society."

Homiak said students should not expect the university to become stricter under his administration.

"The campus is not going to become a police state," he said. "We just want to make it the safest community and campus possible, and we're going to do whatever is necessary to do that."

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