U. Police promote new lieutenants

The University Police Department has three new lieutenants on its roster, thanks to a series of promotions.

Former Sgts. John Wiley, Gary Heller and Al Sulpizio, now almost four weeks into their new jobs as commanding officers, were all promoted to the rank of lieutenant after a long-testing process that began before last summer.

"The testing process actually started prior to me being chief," said Police Chief Tom Rambo, who was himself promoted from the rank of lieutenant in July. "There's a written portion and oral boards and then there's a review by the chief and vice president" for public safety.

Rambo gave high marks to all three lieutenants in an interview last week.

"These three sergeants have been with us for quite sometime and they've done a great job throughout the years," Rambo said. "They're well aware of policing in a University setting and have pretty much dedicated their careers to staying here at Penn."

Wiley, who has become commander of the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift, was a classmate of Rambo's at the police academy. He has been with Penn Police for more than 15 years.

"It's always good, I think, to have the promotion, the changing environment that I'm working in," Wiley said. "My mother always told me change is progressive. If you're not changing, you're standing still."

Wiley, who was in the special services division of the department for several years, enjoyed "the interaction of being involved with the community" in that assignment.

In his current role, he is still getting used to being called "lieutenant." In a recent interview, Wiley answered the phone using his previous rank of sergeant.

Wiley is now enjoying the challenge being a commanding officer poses.

"It is definitely not mundane," he said.

Heller, who has assumed the role of commanding officer in charge of accreditation, is responsible for making sure the department is in compliance with standards issued by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, or CALEA.

In March, the police department became the first campus police force in the state to be recognized by CALEA for complying with its 439 standards. The accreditation is due to be reviewed in 2004.

"It's an elite group of departments that are nationally accredited," Heller said.

Heller, who has been with the department for 10 years, described his experience at Penn as "everything he wished for and more."

"My comfort level is good at this point," Heller said. "I have more of a hands-on role in training the department now."

Sulpizio now supervises the midnight shift. He was not available for comment.

Now that the sergeant roster has three vacancies, Rambo said a new promotion process will begin shortly for promoting detectives and corporals to the rank of sergeant.

"We have to backfill the sergeant position," Rambo said.

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