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The interim chief calls YSU home
YOUNGSTOWN
Home is what Shawn Varso, Youngstown State University’s interim police chief, third and final candidate for the chief job, calls the school he has been protecting for 27 years.
What sets Varso apart from other candidates – Jeffrey Scott, chief of police at Notre Dame College in South Euclid; and Stephen VanWinkle, captain of police at Miami University of Ohio in Oxford – is his “vested interest” in what happens to this place he calls home.
“I’ve spent more time here at YSU than at any physical home I’ve ever been in,” he said. “I feel pride for this place and I want to continue to protect it. I think of the people in this place as my family. ... This is our home [that] we share in the up times and we share in the down times.”
The family Varso referenced includes the students, no matter what challenges they run into.
“Part of our job is to look out for the best interest of our students,” he said. “We want our students not to be afraid to come to us for help. ... And we want to be able to get them the help they need.”
Varso wants to improve communication with the campus community.
“I want our officers to be able to approach the campus community instead of them coming to us,” he said. “We can be more accessible. ... Instead of us asking students to come to us, we need to go to them and be actively asking them, ‘What are your concerns?’”
Part of the communication improvement includes education as to what the officers actually do.
“Some people think we are just security and we’re not,” he said. “We receive the same training as any other agency in the state of Ohio and in some aspects we receive more. We have to be familiar with things that apply to university setting. ... Things other departments don’t deal with.”
Varso provided as examples on-campus violence, sexual assault and guns on campus.
“The best thing we can do is be up front to make sure bad sitautions don’t happen and have the best interest of the victims in mind,” he said.
As far as guns on campus, Varso said he is not against having concealed carry if the board of trustees approves, but he fears precious time could be sacrificed in a dire situation by officers trying to first identify concealed carry holders.
As current interim chief, Varso has the upper hand in internal knowledge to make changes. Consequently, that same upper hand is also Varso’s disadvantage, he said, in the eyes of those who saw him through his interim chief time.
“People have expected me to make change and don’t think I can be the one to make the change,” he said. “But as interim chief I couldn’t make any lasting changes.”
Now, Varso said he is ready to do the job and make those changes.
“I would like to make a positive impact on the department and on YSU,” he said.