Larry Slamons, Founding Director of UAPD, Dies at 79

Photo Submitted

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Lawrence “Larry” Slamons, founding director of the University of Arkansas Police Department, died Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016 at his home with his family by his side.

Slamons joined the University of Arkansas in 1972, initially serving as director of the security department with a mission to develop it into a full-fledged campus police department.

“The university has lost one of its strongest resources and pioneers in the field of law enforcement,” said former Chancellor Daniel E. Ferritor. “Larry Slamons literally transformed the University of Arkansas Police Department from a small unit to a fully accredited, nationally respected police department. He not only transformed the university’s police department but was one of the first instructors in the law enforcement degree program in the Department of Sociology. He had the ability to deal effectively with all he encountered. He will be missed greatly by the university and by all the people who knew him.”

Slamons had served as chief of police at Western Illinois University and accepted the position at Arkansas knowing the administration and community leadership had agreed to develop a campus security division of the highest professional stature, capable of providing the quality of law enforcement and campus security required to meet the diverse needs of students, faculty and staff of the University of Arkansas.

The department had about 19 low-paid security officers when Slamons started, and none of them had police authority. He spent the next two years reorganizing the department, hiring people who were capable of becoming police officers and working to build the department’s credibility on campus. By 1974 Slamons’ campaign had made enough progress that the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved a new name for the agency: the Department of Public Safety. More importantly, the trustees gave DPS officers full police authority on campus. In 1975 the first university officers graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy certification class. Later that year, after considerable debate on campus, the trustees approved arming qualified DPS officers.

In 1980 the university recognized that the department’s transformation was essentially complete, renaming it the University of Arkansas Police Department. By this time university officers were regularly investigating crimes on campus, enforcing traffic laws, making misdemeanor and felony arrests, providing security on campus as well as security training for students, faculty and staff and in every way fulfilling the responsibilities of a law enforcement agency. The department was progressive in its policies and practices. It was among the first in the state to emphasize proactive approaches to crime prevention. It was also the first in Northwest Arkansas to hire a minority officer, and among the first to hire a female patrol officer.

In 1995 the department became one of the first university police agencies accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, and that accreditation was renewed in 2000, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015.

“I had the pleasure of working closely with Larry Slamons for nine years before he retired,” said Don Pederson, former vice chancellor for Finance and Administration. “He was the quintessential law enforcement professional who sought to keep the university’s students safe while providing guidance as they matured into adults. He did this by hiring sworn officers who understood the complexities and difficulties of enforcing the law on a campus with a young population bigger than many towns in Arkansas. His leadership earned him the respect of area and state law enforcement officers with whom he sought to have strong working relations. He set the foundation for the University of Arkansas Police Department that has enabled it to be one of the best college police departments in the country.”

Perhaps Slamons’ greatest achievement was something more difficult to quantify.

“I believe we made every effort to earn the respect of the campus community and of the other law enforcement agencies in the state,” he said in 2007. “If we accomplished that, the University of Arkansas has reason to be proud.”

He is survived by his wife, Bernadette Kuczynski Slamons of the home; two sons, John Slamons and wife, LeaAnn of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Joseph Slamons and wife, Corinna of Murrieta, California; daughters, Anne Minton and husband, Mark of Fayetteville, Meme Toney and husband, George of Appleton, Wisconsin, and Nicole Stringer and husband, John of Omaha, Nebraska; 13 grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and sister-in-law Carol Kuczynski of Elgin, Illinois.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fayetteville with Father Jason Tyler officiating. Private burial will be in Fairview Memorial Gardens.

Visitation will be Friday, Jan. 15, from 5-6 p.m. with the rosary beginning at 6 p.m. at Beard’s Funeral Chapel.

Memorials may be directed to Washington Regional Hospice or the M&N Foundation.