David Hobbs, a former Hampton police chief with 27 years of municipal and campus policing experience, joined the University of New Hampshire as its new police chief on Monday.
The search for a new police chief followed the resignation of former UNH Police Chief Steven Lee in April, two months after he was arrested for driving under the influence. Since Lee’s arrest, Mark Collopy had served as interim chief.
Hobbs most recently served as chief of police and director of public safety at Northern Essex Community College in Massachusetts. There, he expanded community safety programs and worked with student affairs, athletics and Title IX staff on campus safety issues.
“I’ve found that the best policing starts with relationships, and that’s especially true at a university,” Hobbs said in a university news release. “I’m looking forward to getting to know UNH students, faculty, and staff and making sure our officers are visible, approachable and prepared.”
Dean of Students and Chair of the Search Committee Michael Blackman said two major priorities for filling the role were finding someone with both leadership experience and a background of working with college students. He said the search committee included a mix of administration, faculty and students, and involved two rounds of interviews.
“In general, we definitely wanted somebody who had a particular passion for working with college students,” Blackman said. “The laws are the same, but it’s a different environment than other law enforcement settings that aren’t so focused on this population.”
There are also federal reporting requirements to which college police chiefs must adhere, said university spokesperson Tania deLuzuriaga. She said having someone with prior experience doing this reporting is particularly helpful.
Before serving at Northern Essex, Hobbs spent more than two decades with the Hampton Police Department in New Hampshire. He held the role of chief from 2021 to 2022 and was deputy chief for seven years prior. In Hampton, he led a department of 39 full-time officers, as many as 70 part-time officers and 10 civilian employees.
At UNH, Hobbs will oversee 81 employees across UNH’s campuses in Durham, Manchester and Concord.
Education is at the heart of all operations at the university, said Blackman, the dean of students. He said it was important that the university hired someone who understands the educational component of the job as well, whether that means proactively educating students about New Hampshire’s laws or interacting with a student who is accused of violating a law.
“He’s just somebody that gets law enforcement, but also gets college students,” Blackman said. “And that can be hard to find.”
