Anthony Berryhill, chief of the UTHSC Campus Police Department, is one of six finalists for Campus Safety magazine’s Director of the Year award.
The winner and runners-up will be announced in late June at the Campus Safety Conference East in Bethesda, Md.
“I am amazed and proud of the daily effort put forth by my entire staff to improve the response and relations within our campus community,” Berryhill said. “The work being done here is a team effort, and we will share in its accomplishments.”
Berryhill joined the campus force in 2016 after 32 years with the Memphis Police Department. He retired as deputy director.
His ties to metropolitan policing changed the UTHSC campus force from within, says Ken Brown, JD, MPA, PhD, FACHE, executive vice chancellor and chief operations officer.
“That mentality transformed how our officers performed and how they see themselves. They are not just responsible for campus security; they see themselves being responsible for our community policing,” he said.
The department, for instance, uses the same radio frequency as MPD, and due to its proximity to neighboring hospitals, including Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and the regional safety-net, Regional One Health, campus police are often the first to respond to those emergency calls.
Berryhill is credited with structuring campus officer compensation to be competitive with other jurisdictions and include UTHSC employee benefits. He also adopted an artificial-intelligence software that is designed to recognize signals of potential harm in digital communications, including email and social media posts.
Under his leadership, the department has achieved accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, and the Tennessee Law Enforcement Accreditation program.
The Campus Police Department, which includes more than 60 armed officers and non-armed security staff, covers the urban campus’s 75 acres.
UTHSC ranked in the Top 10 among 490 colleges in the 2021 Safest Campuses in America list, according to the National Council for Home Safety and Security.