DSU announces new Chief of Police

DELAWARE – Delaware State University has named Chief James Overton to head the university’s police department for the second time in his career.

Overton began his first tenure with DSU as Deputy Chief of Police in 2000, and then served as the University’s Chief of Police from 2005 to 2011. This time, he is succeeding Chief Bobby Cummings, who retired in late May.

During his first tenure, the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators named Chief Overton as the recipient of its 2008 Administrative Excellence Award. He left DSU in 2011 to become the Chief of Police for the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, being named as the interim Vice Chancellor a year later, serving in that position from 2012 to 2016. After that, he was appointed as a Senior Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs from 2016 to 2018.

Additionally, he served as an adjunct sociology instructor, teaching criminal justices and social deviance courses.