If you’re walking through campus and see a man attempting to scuba dive in one of the ponds located on campus do not be alarmed. The man you are seeing is Tom Fitzgerald, the newly hired police officer for the university.
Fitzgerald retired as a Louisville Metro Police officer in May after serving for 22 years. He spent the last 15 years keeping the Ohio River safe working for the River Patrol Unit in Louisville.
While patrolling the Ohio River, Fitzgerald’s duties consisted of stopping drunk boaters to scuba diving to recovering bodies.
Fitzgerald was hired to work for IUS Police in July. He is a native of Clarksville and said he was excited to be back working in this area.
“It’s good to be back home in Southern Indiana,” he said.
After he graduated from Clarksville High School he spent a year attending Western Kentucky University, then spent a year at the University of Kentucky before venturing out into a career as a police officer.
He worked for Jeffersonville Police Department for eight years before taking the job with LMPD.
Fitzgerald has rotated all three shifts so far while working at IU Southeast but said he will mainly be working third shift.
With his previous experience working for JPD and LMPD, he said the transition to working for IUS Police has been fairly easy.
The biggest obstacle Fitzgerald has experienced so far working for IU Southeast is learning the campus layout and all the different buildings on campus.
He said he hopes to give students on campus good direction and keep them on the right track while attending IU Southeast.
He wants to keep up the good relations that he has seen so far between the IUS Police and students and continue to improve on that relationship in a positive way.
Fitzgerald said he really enjoys working at IU Southeast for a couple different reasons. He enjoys talking with all the different people that are on campus and he believes IU Southeast is a great place to work because of the setting of the campus.
“Working here is like working at a park,” he said, “it looks so nice.”
Michael McNeal, IUS Police office services assistant senior, has enjoyed his time working with Officer Fitzgerald.
“He is always on time and enjoyable to work with,” he said.
Even with all the unique and enjoyable things that Fitzgerald has seen while working on campus, there is one problem that he sees as an issue for IU Southeast.
“I would like to improve the parking problem,” he said.
He said he wasn’t sure how to fix that problem just yet but in the short period he has been working on the job he sees parking as one of the main problems at IU Southeast.
When not working hard to keep the campus a safe place for everyone who spends their days here, Fitzgerald has a few hobbies that he enjoys in his free time.
He enjoys scuba diving and was actually certified at IU Southeast back in 1975 while he was in high school.
He said one of his favorite hobbies is riding motorcycles. He owns a Harley Davidson he takes for rides.
The main duties of the IUS Police consist of protecting the IUS campus but they can also be called out to assist in the community.
Fitzgerald said they can be called to help the New Albany and Floyd County Police Departments if needed.
While for most jobs it is a requirement, to work for the IUS Police you do not have to have prior police experience to be considered for a position in the department.
Fitzgerald said it really helps to have prior work experience from other departments in police work but it is not a requirement.
With Fitzgerald’s previous work experience working for LMPD, IU Southeast offers different types of work activity with different types of people, even if there is less activity on a daily basis.
His wife, Terry, owns Heatwaves Salon in Jeffersonville.
By JUSTIN RAY
Staff Writer
jusray@ius.edu