An Arizona State University alum with extensive campus law enforcement experience will be the next chief of police, effective Sept. 16, ASU officials announced this week.

John Thompson, a 19-year veteran of the ASU Police Department, takes the reins of the 158-person strong law enforcement agency after having served as the interim chief of police since May.

“John Thompson has demonstrated a profound dedication to ASU’s values and mission,” said Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Morgan Olsen. “His proven track record of innovation, leadership, service to public safety makes him the right person to lead our police department into the future.”

Thompson’s law enforcement career began after serving ten years in the Marine Corps Reserve while pursuing his college education. After completing his undergraduate degree at ASU, he joined ASU Police in 2005 and graduated from the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy in Phoenix. 

“As a member of the Sun Devil community for more than 20 years, first as a student and then a police officer, I am humbled, grateful and proud to now lead the exceptional women and men of the ASU Police Department,” Thompson said. “I am honored to be appointed to this position and excited to continue serving our diverse university community and building upon the foundation we’ve carefully worked to establish.”

Since 2005, Thompson has held a variety of key roles, including serving as field training officer, detective, asset forfeiture manager, terrorism liaison officer, honor guard member and commander, patrol sergeant, criminal investigations bureau sergeant, patrol commander, and support services commander. For the past two years, Thompson oversaw the department’s operations division, where he has been critical in enhancing its operational effectiveness.

Thompson’s noteworthy accomplishments include assisting in creating and supervising the Special Victim’s Unit, starting the Community Response Unit bike team, growing police services on the Downtown Phoenix campus, expanding outreach to the homeless population through the Community Outreach Officer program, and being instrumental in expanding the use of technology to boost operational capabilities, including the implementation of the department’s Real Time Analysis Center.

Thompson earned a master's degree in public administration and a bachelor's in interdisciplinary studies, focusing on political science, public administration, and management, from ASU. A graduate of the FBI National Academy's 283rd Session, he also teaches at ASU's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and previously taught at the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude to university leadership for their support and for this opportunity,” Thompson said. “The dedicated members of the ASU Police Department work diligently every day to ensure a safe, secure and inclusive campus environment and I look forward to continue assisting them successfully accomplish our mission.

“Over the past few years we’ve positioned ourselves to better incorporate technology, analysis and programming to more effectively and efficiently carryout our duties, and we’ve experienced many great achievements because of it. I look forward to working with our department members to further evaluate and advance ways we can innovate and guide our department into the future.”

Organizationally aligned under the Office of the Executive Vice President, Treasurer and CFO, the ASU Police Department is a full-service, fully accredited law enforcement agency that operates 24-hours a day, 365 days-per-year.

The department is directly responsible for policing all four university campuses in the Phoenix area—Tempe, Downtown Phoenix, West Valley and Polytechnic. They also oversee security support for other ASU locations outside Phoenix, including ASU at Lake Havasu, ASU at Mesa City Center, ASU School of Social Work Tucson, ASU California Center and ASU in Washington D.C.