{"id":30432,"date":"2014-05-13T10:12:21","date_gmt":"2014-05-13T14:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=30432"},"modified":"2022-09-27T11:39:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T15:39:48","slug":"a-servant-and-a-scholar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2014\/05\/13\/a-servant-and-a-scholar\/","title":{"rendered":"A servant and a scholar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Wright State University Police Chief David Finnie<\/p><\/div>\n

It was the summer of \u201979. With hair to his shoulders and a full beard, Newark, Deleware, high school student David Finnie had found his calling. A sophomore Serpico in his hometown\u2019s Police Explorer program, Finnie was learning how to work investigations from real cops and he couldn\u2019t have been happier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always known what I wanted to do. I was fascinated by the uniform, the cars, the investigations. I got into the Explorers and I felt important,\u201d said Finnie, Wright State University\u2019s new chief of police.<\/p>\n

The pre-cadet program that introduces youths to law enforcement kicked off a successful and productive career that\u2019s helped Finnie simultaneously serve his two loves: public safety and education.<\/p>\n

Finnie brings a wealth of experience gathered over a 25-year career in university law enforcement. He began working with the Wright State Police Department in 1999 as a captain and in 2005 was promoted to assistant chief of police.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave has served effectively in a leadership role for University Police for 15 years. The hallmark of Dave\u2019s work is great relationships with students, faculty and staff, which is essential to the nature of our police operation,\u201d said Dan Abrahamowicz, vice president of student affairs. \u201cOver the past six months, Dave has led the department as interim chief and has done an excellent job in a challenging situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

To those who know his background, it\u2019s no surprise Finnie\u2019s risen in the ranks leading public safety on a college campus. Both his parents were educators. His father taught for 35 years at the University of Delaware and retired as professor emeritus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally grew up in academia. It just rubbed off, the values that the academic environment holds dear,\u201d said Finnie.<\/p>\n

Finnie holds two master\u2019s degrees, in public administration and criminal justice and social problems, and is a graduate of Northwestern University\u2019s School of Police Staff and Command\u2014a nationally recognized law enforcement executive development program. A public servant and a scholar, he includes an invitation to speak at the Oxford Round Table at the University of Oxford in England among his accomplishments.<\/p>\n

Finnie is also a member of the Executive Board for the Joint Terrorism Task Force for the Southwestern Region of Ohio. He serves on the Government Relations Committee for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and has been an adjunct professor at Wright State in political science and applied behavioral science departments for several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love academia, I love teaching,\u201d said Finnie. \u201cI remember my grandparents telling me once that I wasn\u2019t college material and that I should go to trade school. I didn\u2019t get mad, but it added fuel to my fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two weeks on the job as chief and Finnie is using his passion to point him towards his goals for the department. Focused always on relationships, Finnie wants Wright State police officers to be more visible and connected in the community both in personal and professional respects. Above all else, he wants the students to trust their officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to make it personal,\u201d said Finnie. \u201cOne of my kids is a college graduate and another is in school right now. I\u2019ve always believed that for them to have academic success, they have to feel safe. I hate to think of a student missing out on their chance at an education, a chance to change their lives because of an unsafe environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sentiment he knows resonates with parents too.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Move-In Day, one of the things that\u2019s on the minds of all those parents on that important day is, \u2018is my child going to be safe here?\u2019 And I want them to know I think like a parent too. And that\u2019s huge to me,\u201d said Finnie.<\/p>\n

When it comes to public safety resources, Finnie wants what all campus chiefs want\u2014more officers, more lights, more cameras\u2014but he also knows he\u2019s got something many of his peers don\u2019t have\u2013a jurisdiction that\u2019s already safe and connected with its community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a safe campus,\u201d Finnie said. \u201cAnd I think we can build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Chief of Police David Finnie brings a wealth of experience gathered over a 25-year career in university law enforcement. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":30439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,711,725,747,715,4855,719,2024,4301],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-faculty-staff","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies","category-special-categories","category-staff","category-staff-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30432"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40659,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30432\/revisions\/40659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}