Ohio State’s police department has a new chief, the 11th in the division's history and the first woman.
Kimberly Spears-McNatt will take over as Ohio State's chief of police after more than two decades at the department and nearly six months serving as interim chief. Despite that long tenure, she underplays her role as the first female police chief in the department's history.
"My personal and professional philosophy is to whom much is given, much is required, so I am very humbled by this opportunity, and just thinking that I'm the first, it never crossed my mind that this opportunity would present itself," she says.
Although she’s excited about the promotion, she prefers answering to "Kimberly" than "Chief." And Spears-McNatt wants that approachability to extend to the rest of her department.
"There's always a lot of improvement between the relationship with the community and police division,” she says. “I want to make sure that when our officers show up it's not always for something bad—that they know us on a first name basis, that they're comfortable when they see us, and there's no stigma attached to it."
Spears-McNatt is quick to highlight her Deputy Chief Tracy Hahn, and the school’s director of public safety Monica Moll, both of whom have served as police chiefs themselves.
"The opportunity to be able to work with two dynamic women who have served in that position as chief is just amazing to me," she says.
