Veteran Police Officer Takes Top Security Position

Shawn Harrison is a 35-year veteran of law enforcement. She has worked at the Baltimore City Police Department, the Baltimore City Community College’s Department of Public Safety, and Piedmont Virginia Community College. Photo by Pete Vidal.

In August 2015, the College hired Ms. Shawn Harrison as the director of public safety and emergency management. A 35-year veteran of law enforcement, she spent the first 26 years at the Baltimore City Police Department in various capacities including patrol, sexual assault and child abuse investigator, internal affairs, police academy instructor, and executive protection officer for the state’s attorney of Baltimore City.

Upon retirement in 2007, she accepted the deputy chief position at Baltimore City Community College’s Department of Public Safety. In 2014, she accepted the first chief of police position at Piedmont Virginia Community College, Charlottesville, Virginia. While there, she established and accredited Piedmont Virginia Community College’s campus police as a certified law enforcement agency.

She received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Coppin State University and a master’s degree in management from Johns Hopkins University. She is a member of the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the Association of College Law Enforcement Administrators, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

—Jill Fitzgerald