NOVA Police Chief Dan Dusseau to Retire
After 12 years of visionary leadership as NOVA’s Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police, Dan Dusseau is retiring effective May 1. Before coming to NOVA, he had risen to command staff rank as a major in the Prince Georges County (Maryland) Police Department. In his climb through the ranks at Prince Georges Police, he served in and supervised patrol, detectives, homicide, internal affairs, and information technology. He led many high-profile investigations and won numerous awards.
The broad tactical and leadership experience amassed there served him well in June 2010 when he assumed the role of NOVA’s chief of police. Chief Dusseau arrived approximately six months after a shooting at the Woodbridge Campus. One of his first responsibilities was to prioritize and implement the recommendations contained in a Presidential Commission that reviewed the incident. Dusseau recognized that several changes were urgently needed to enhance the safety and security of the College community.
First, he created a centralized dispatch capability. Until that time, dispatchers covered only the Annandale Campus and only Monday through Friday during business hours. Other campuses used local radios and cell phones but had no immediate link to each other. Dusseau set about building a 24/7/365 dispatch center that would cover all NOVA campuses and centers with state-of-the-art equipment. In addition to centralizing communications, he centralized both hiring and supervision. Before Dusseau’s arrival, college police officers were hired by the various campus business managers. Today, the quality of NOVA officers is competitive with those of any other within the National Capital Region. Dusseau oversaw the development of a diverse department where officers are approachable and dedicated to a positive role of service. He created a centralized process to ensure consistent hiring standards. He also instituted safety districts that consolidated and standardized police management on the college’s campuses. The initiation of morning and afternoon daily campus supervisory reports enhanced department-wide situational awareness of campus conditions and facilitated the streamlined and rational provision of resources in a crisis.
Second, he received permission to expand the department and modified coverage schedules to maximize officer presence on campuses when the College is open. He also equipped his officers with the same radios, ballistic vests and other duty equipment used by other professional law enforcement agencies in the area.
Third, he recruited specialists to provide officers with current tactical training in the areas of firearms and active shooter response. These officers were recognized by a Department of Criminal Justice service audit. His officers teach these topics to both new and veteran officers at local police academies and national conferences.
One of Chief’s most important initiatives was the creation of a departmental community outreach program. Recognizing that community outreach is the public face of the department, he placed a senior lieutenant in charge of the program and dedicated an officer for full-time support of community outreach. One of the first fruits of this program was the monthly Public Safety Newsletter. In the ten years since the program’s creation, the newsletter featured more than 500 articles that empower NOVA community members to play a positive role in their own safety and security, and it has received numerous state-wide awards. In this same period, NOVA Police Outreach has given over 1,000 presentations in classrooms, College workplaces, local communities and even at national and international venues. These presentations include both safety and security (e.g., dealing with difficult people/conflict avoidance and de-escalation, how to maintain a safe classroom, dealing with mental health issues, bystander intervention, staying safe in public) and skills topics (e.g., stop the bleed tourniquet application, writing in the workplace, interviewing skills, police and technology, leadership, and non-verbal communications). Many of these are based on articles written by Chief Dusseau and published in national law enforcement journals. As a result of his national publications and written works, NOVA Police receive regular requests for our guidance on conducting policing operations from all over the country.
Chief Dusseau’s leadership at NOVA has not been limited to the police department. As director of public safety, he oversees NOVA’s Office of Emergency Management and Safety. In this capacity, he played a leading role in the College’s response to the COVID pandemic, two visits by the President of the United States and many emergency communications to the College community. In 2014, as a result of his design contributions to the LiveSafe Mobile Safety App, Dusseau was able to provide this app, which gives life-saving information and the ability to communicate quickly and unobtrusively to NOVA Dispatch, at no charge to NOVA community members and their families and friends.
This short article only scratches the surface of Dan Dusseau’s myriad contributions to the College. His leadership and effectiveness have been validated over the years by the many awards he has received, to include the Campus Safety Magazine Police Chief/Director of the Year (2014), the Governor’s Award to Administrative Excellence (2018) and various local Chamber of Commerce and other awards. He has also served with distinction on many local, state and national bodies, such as the Board of Directors of the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy, the (Virginia) Governor’s Task Force on Sexual Assault, and the Campus Safety magazine Board of Advisors. The bottom line of all this is most impressive: in the last 10 years, beginning shortly after his arrival, reported crime on our campuses has been reduced 90%!
NOVA’s Vice President of Finance and Administration, Ina Dimkova, Dusseau’s direct supervisor summed up the feelings of many when she said, “Dan Dusseau is one of the most dedicated, loyal and ethical persons I have ever known. His service here at NOVA has reflected well on his professionalism, NOVA’s Police and Office of Emergency Management and Safety and the College itself. I thank him for his superb service. I will miss him.”
While NOVA and his subordinates will miss Chief Dusseau’s leadership and expertise, police departmental operations will continue without a hitch in the capable hands of Acting Chief William “Jake” Jacoby, himself a senior veteran of Fairfax County Police and Deputy Chief at NOVA since 2013. Acting Chief Jacoby will be assisted by NOVA’s four lieutenants who have between them nearly 100 years of police experience and 60 years of experience at NOVA. Similarly, OEMS operations will continue to be directed by Tom Mayhew.
Chief Dusseau’s leadership, expertise and commitment to the College and his officers will be missed. Thank you, Chief. Well done!
Postscript: If you would like to send a note of thanks and best wishes to Dan Dusseau, please send it to Lt. John Weinstein, jweinstein@nvcc.edu, for inclusion in a scrapbook to be presented at a later date.
Submitted by:
Lt. John Weinstein, NOVA PD, JWeinstein@nvcc.edu