Anthony Campbell, currently the chief of police at Yale University, has been named the next head of the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD). Campbell, a double graduate of Yale (with a bachelor’s in religious studies and a master’s in divinity), was previously the chief of police for the city of New Haven, then an inspector at the office of the state’s attorney in Connecticut’s division of criminal justice before joining Yale in 2019.
Campbell has also served as a lecturer at Yale Divinity School, where he has taught a course titled “Police Others as You Would Want to be Policed: The Changing Face of Community-Police-Ministry Relations in the Twenty-First Century.”
Like his predecessors as chief, Campbell is a proponent of community policing. Both prior Harvard police chiefs—Francis D. “Bud” Riley, a former Massachusetts State Police lieutenant colonel who was hired with a mandate to address problems of racism within the department, and Victor Clay, a veteran of university police departments who arrived emphasizing the importance of diversity and inclusion—advocated community policing as the appropriate form of law enforcement in a university context. Both departed after the Harvard University Police Association, the union that represents HUPD officers, expressed a lack of confidence in their leadership.
Riley, who declined to comment to this magazine at the time, retired in 2020 after a long tenure as chief. Clay, a charismatic figure on campus, resigned last May after four years on the job.
At Yale, Campbell implemented a law enforcement response model known as “fit for purpose,” which encourages officers to assess a situation, determine the appropriate response, and decide which resources to use, according to a Harvard press release.
On the New Haven police force, the release says, Campbell partnered with community organizations such as Yale Child Study and Victims’ Advocates/Survivors of Homicide Network. He also led the development and implementation of new law enforcement technologies.
“I look forward to working with the women and men of the Harvard University Police Department to ensure the safety of Harvard and the surrounding communities so that the values and mission of Harvard University can be carried out to their fullest extent,” Campbell said in a statement. He will start his new position on January 5, 2026.
The official University announcement appears here.
