Willie Bell, Winston-Salem State Director of public Safety and Chief of Police, has announced his retirement, effective June 30.
Bell has served as Director of public safety and Police Chief at WSSU since 1997. Prior to coming to WSSU, Bell served as Chief of Police and Director of public safety for five years at Fayetteville State University.
Bell’s career in law enforcement spans more than three decades. Twenty- eight of those years have been on a University of North Carolina campus. He began his law enforcement career in 1975 as a Durham County deputy sheriff. In 1980 he joined the University of North Carolina system as a patrol officer at Chapel Hill, where he rose to the rank of Captain over the course of the next 11 years. In 1992 Bell moved to Fayetteville State University police chief.
Bell spearheaded the Department of Public Safety’s transition to a designated law enforcement agency, which gave WSSU public safety officers the same authority and power of arrest capability as other municipal law enforcement agencies. The designation also broadened their jurisdiction to extend beyond the boundaries of the campus.
In addition to his direct law enforcement service, Bell has been active locally and statewide in other ways. He has worked as a consultant to the president of the UNC system, serving in 2004 on the President’s General Administration Task Force on the Safety of the Campus Community, and in 2007 as a member of the UNC General Administration’s President’s Campus Safety Task Force.
“Chief Bell has served the UNC and WSSU communities with distinction, and he will be sorely missed,” said Chancellor Donald J. Reaves.
“He will be missed for his expertise in law enforcement, his dedication to WSSU and the broader UNC community, for his friendship, and for his loyal and dedicated support of three chancellors, including me.”
A national search will be conducted soon to fill the position.