Central Michigan University Police Capt. Fred Harris wasn’t originally planning to be in Mount Pleasant when his career began.

He originally wanted to stay in Wexford County, where he lives and work his way up there.

“I was going to run for sheriff,” he said. “Things changed. I changed my mind.”

Harris, the second finalist for the CMU Police chief position, spoke to about 20 people at an open forum in the Bovee University Center Friday afternoon.

He talked about how when he was hired as captain three years ago, retiring Chief Stan Dinius said he would be retiring in a few years, and that someone would need to step up and take over for him.

“I think they found that person,” Harris said.

Previously to serving at CMU, Harris served as the Wexford County undersheriff from 1993 to 2006. In that role, he said, he got a lot of practice in public relations, often being the spokesman for the department to the media.

“I’ve had a lot of training,” he said. “I’ve always had a good rapport with the media.”

He said one of the big differences he sees in policing a university campus and a county is the level of involvement university police need to have in order to be successful.

While some duties of the job remain the same, university police need to be more visible.

“We have an obligation to hold ourselves out there,” he said. “We don’t want to be reactive, we want to be proactive.”

While he said city police officers may not have a duty to protect, university police need to, because of the number of students that come from across the state to attend school.

“That’s our obligation, we need to take that seriously,” Harris said. “We have an obligation to protect, so it is a little bit different.”

He also said because of technological upgrades that he can lead more efficiently if selected as chief. With digital cameras in each police car and a new 9-1-1 system currently being installed on campus, Harris said commanding the force would be more simplistic.

“I have a lot more opportunity to delegate,” he said.

While most departments are cutting positions, Harris said one item he would like to accomplish is the creation of another position in the department, even though he knows it would not be a popular request in the administration because of money being tight.

“One of our strategic goals is to get a lieutenant position,” he said. “That would allow us more time with . the external groups.”

The third and final candidate, University of Oregon senior campus security planner Kevin Williams, will have an open forum for questions at 3:45 p.m. Monday in the UC’s Maroon Room.

Check cm-life.com Monday for coverage from the final police chief candidate.

E-mail the author: David Veselenak