Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Profile: THOMAS LONGO, University of South Florida chief of police

By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.
Published May 29, 2006

PREVIOUS POSITION: Assistant chief of police, Florida State University, Tallahassee

Policing on a college campus is often no different from policing in a small municipality, Thomas Longo says. Many of the same types of domestic disputes can be found in a college dorm as easily as in a trendy subdivision.

"It's like community policing magnified," Longo said. "It's similar to small-town policing. You have to dig into problems and solve problems. Otherwise, they don't go away."

As director of safety and security for the Tampa campus, Longo's responsibilities include the safety of staff and administration, and of about 40,000 students, with a police force of 45.

Other responsibilities are the security of visitors, celebrities and even protestors - anyone who comes onto the campus on Fowler Avenue, including rock stars performing at the USF Sun Dome and athletes playing against the USF Bulls.

The density of students in a dorm, for example, can lead to everyday situations in which an officer can help, Longo said.

"Even a quality-of-life problem, something as simple as roommates not getting along and causing an altercation," Longo said. "That can cause a ripple effect up and down the hall, keeping students from studying, for example, a ripple effect far beyond the little incident. We try to be very proactive when working with housing (and) judicial affairs."

Longo grew up in Largo. His father was a reserve police officer, so Longo was around police officers throughout his childhood.

"I grew up wanting to be a police officer," he said.

"You get to meet people, work with people, help solve their problems," he said.

After graduating from Largo High School in 1977, Longo worked in the Tampa Bay area and joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, later transferring to the Army Reserves. Longo began his law enforcement career in 1981 with the Tampa Police Department, assigned to District 1 patrol: the West Shore, Kennedy, MacDill Air Force Base area.

Longo worked for the Belleair Bluffs Police Department from 1981 to 1982 and was with the Belleair Beach Police Department from 1982 to 1985, when he graduated from Eckerd College with a bachelor's degree in political science.

After graduation, Longo became a reserve police officer with the Issaquah (Wash.) Police Department from 1986 to 1988, followed by a year with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. In 1989, he became chief of police of the Waitsburg (Wash.) Police Department and remained there for three years.

Longo attended law school at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., earning a master's degree in public policy and a law degree in 1996. Longo then returned to the Pacific Northwest to teach at Crown College in Everett, Wash., and served as assistant chief of police in 1998 in Glendive, Mont.

Longo returned to the Virginia Beach area in 1999 to become chief of police of Old Dominion University from 1999 to 2003, when he became assistant chief of police at FSU in Tallahassee.

"I prefer smaller jurisdictions," he said. "You can dig into problems more. There's little more of a personal touch."

Working with students can have unique challenges, he said, and sometimes surprising results. While conducting DUI checkpoints at FSU, Longo said students came out, offered snacks to his officers and cheered when officers pulled over suspicious motorists.

Longo, 47, and his wife, Karen, have three children: Richard, 22, a member of the Florida Highway Patrol; Jennifer, 15; and Cheryl, 10.

Coming back to the Tampa Bay area where he grew up offered some dramatic surprises, Longo said.

"All the vacant land I remember no one could afford to buy has been gobbled up," he said.

- FRED W. WRIGHT JR., Times correspondent

[Last modified May 29, 2006, 06:06:26]