By Megan Walsh, Special to the Chronicle
Karen O'Callaghan, recently became the head of Hofstra's Public Safety department this summer of 2010.
The events leading up to O'Callaghan's new position transpired after she began her work with Hofstra during the 2008 presidential debates between John McCain and Barack Obama. O'Callaghan was responsible for directing the security as part of the Nassau County Police Department. It was during this time that O'Callaghan admits she was "very impressed by the whole Hofstra community."
However, it is her work in patrol, as a detective and a director responsible for training that O'Callaghan feels she developed her skills for the position as director of the public safety system here at Hofstra, and stated that it was her main prerogative to "help the students and community stay safe."
In her experience thus far, O'Callaghan has found the best part of Hofstra's system is that it is so "service oriented". It is constantly Public Safety's mission to "be there to help".
In addition O'Callaghan is also making improvements to the Public Safety system. "We are always looking for better ways to get information out to the community," she said. O'Callaghan also mentioned the security audit President Rabinowitz called for in 2009, saying that there is talk of new technologies which could be utilized to build even greater security on campus.
"Safety is so critical to us on campus, and I work with an extremely professional group of men and women", O'Callaghan states. In addition, O'Callaghan says one of her main goals is developing public safety. She adds that there are always looking for "better ways to get information out to the community".
Although Callaghan refused to offer a grade for those in charge before her, she did say, "The reputation [of Hofstra's Public Safety] was highly regarded, which spoke volumes about the public safety system. Hopefully this reputation will continue into the future."