DOVER — Bobby L. Cummings will take the helm as chief of public safety and the Delaware State University police force, officials announced Monday.

Chief Cummings began his new chapter overseeing the university’s police and security personnel Oct. 18, according to a news release.

Chief Cummings adds DSU to his previous 32-year law enforcement career with the Wilmington Police Department (1985-2017), in which he served in an ascending number of leadership positions, culminating as that department’s chief from 2014-17.

Under Chief Cummings’ leadership of WPD, a Real Time Crime Center was implemented that utilized data analytics to direct the police coverage to the most needed areas of Delaware’s largest municipality, officials said. He also established a policy that every Wilmington police officer act as a community police officer. Chief Cummings also participated in the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing during the Obama administration.

Prior to his new tenure with DSU, Chief Cummings served as the director of group violence intervention under the Delaware Division of Health and Social Services from 2019 to September 2021.

A native of Millen, Georgia, and a graduate of Claymont High School, Chief Cummings has a 2002 Bachelor of Science in human services and a 2003 Master of Science in human services, organizational management and leadership, both from Springfield College in Wilmington.

Chief Cummings is the fourth campus police chief since the state legislative establishment in 2000 of a certified police department at Delaware State University, following Carl Wyche (2000-05), James Overton (2005-11) and Harry Downes Jr. (2011-21).