HOUGHTON – Brian Cadwell has been with Michigan Technological University Public Safety and Police Services for 25 years, and now he has the top position in the organization.

The Calumet resident was named director and chief of police on July 1. He replaced Dan Bennett, who was chief for seven years, and is now working with the Tech administration.

He has 38 years in law enforcement, Cadwell said, including time in the United States Army military police in Louisiana and New Jersey. He worked for the Houghton Police Department from 1982 to 1984, and the Houghton County Sheriff’s Office from 1984 to 1991 when he started at Tech.

Cadwell said Tech has 12 sworn full-time officers, who are certified by the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards.

“We handle anything any other department does,” he said.

The Tech police officers make an effort to contact students and faculty on campus as often as possible, Cadwell said. Besides road patrol, officer also walk the Tech campus. The agency has outreach programs, including crime prevention, rape aggression defense and “safe walk,” which provides a police escort for people who may not feel safe walking on the campus.

Because all the police departments in the area are relatively small, Cadwell said there is a mutual aid agreement between them.

“We all assist each other,” he said.

With the shootings going on around the country, and to deal with other possible large-scale emergencies, Cadwell said Tech, along with other police and emergency agencies in the area, carries out scenarios to address those issues.

“We do a full-scale drill every three years,” he said.

They also do a “table top” exercise every year to simulate possible emergencies, Cadwell said.

Cadwell said in 2014 he attended the Michigan State Police School of Staff and Command at the Michigan State Police academy in the Lansing area.

“They said I was the first yooper to go through,” he said.

Cadwell said he became chief at a time when the department is dealing with several retirements, and he’s been busy finding replacement officers.

He said he appreciates the trust the Tech administration has given him by choosing him to be chief.

“It’s a privilege and an honor,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the challenge of keeping the relationship with our students.”