Last week, Public Safety Interim Chief Tony Callisto interviewed to take his job on a permanent basis with a search committee headed by Thomas Wolfe, dean of Hendricks Chapel and co-chair of the Critical Incident Management Team.

Callisto, who has been interim chief since January, said he hopes a decision is reached by next week. Wolfe said he can’t say when the committee will make a decision, but noted the designated set of interviews – with the chancellor’s advisory committee on campus safety, the search committee, a Public Safety staff and a panel of students – will be completed by the end of the week.

‘We are certainly not rushing this process nor are we delaying this process,’ Wolfe said.

Callisto is competing with John Upton and David Dray, both of whom are in Syracuse for interviews, Wolfe said. Upton interviewed Monday and Dray will interview today. Callisto will also interview with a group of students today.

Upton is an adviser for Operational Support Services Law Enforcement Advisors and deputy constable of Harris County, Texas, Wolfe said. Lt. David Dray is currently a shift supervisor for the Department of Public Safety at Westfield State College in Massachusetts.

‘We are looking for a person who understands community policing and very much affirms the importance and the unique role that Public Safety plays in a higher education institution,’ Wolfe said.

Whether Callisto can remove the term ‘interim’ from his title or not, he will remain at Syracuse University. ‘I’m not going any place, I’m going to be the deputy chief,’ said Callisto about the case that he isn’t hired permanently.

Capt. Drew Buske is currently the interim deputy director of Public Safety, who would then be put back into his previous role of sergeant of investigations with Sgt. Ed Weber.

The university hired Callisto in December 2005 as deputy director under Marlene Hall, who stepped down from her position as chief a year later to become the chief of police at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Before that, Callisto worked for 25 years at the Onondaga County Sheriff’s office.

Published on April 30, 2007 at 12:00 pm