In his new position as the deputy chief at the Sam Houston State University Police Department, James Fitch hopes to bring positive change to the community and the university.

A former sergeant at the Huntsville Police Department, Fitch has worked for the last eight years to build his experience and increase his education, and with a new UPD chief to work with, he said there is great potential for improvement.

“With the current chief here moving up and the former assistant chief — Kevin Morris — taking his spot, this position was opened up,” Fitch said Friday, his fifth official day as the new UPD deputy chief. “I saw taking this position as a good career opportunity and an opportunity to make a difference with the department and with the whole community, including the Sam Houston community.”

As deputy chief, Fitch will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the department, and he is also directly over the dispatch division.

“I’ll be looking after the training of the officers, looking at policies and the general workings of the department and also seeking out possible grants for the department,” he said. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to have an impact here, because I was more middle management at my old job and didn’t have that ability to the same extent as I do here.

“Especially considering the fact that Morris and I are both new, I think we can move the department in a very positive direction.”

While the move to the university department represented a move to a much smaller staff, Fitch said the complexity of his responsibilities has only grown.

“This is definitely a smaller department — here we have 18 officers where at the city department there are 52 — but here, we’re over our own dispatch and dispatchers, all of the parking control personnel and the entire parking division,” he said. “There’s a little more going on here than just police work, and to some extent, I’ll be involved in all of that.”

In his eight years at the Huntsville Police Department, Fitch made significant friendships that he hopes will not fade with his career move.

“I was with HPD for eight years, and it was definitely hard for me to leave,” he said. “More than anything, I’ll miss the people, because HPD is like a family. Luckily, I’m just across town, and we’ll still be working together on a lot of things.”

As far as his position as sergeant which was left vacant, Fitch said the department will be holding a promotion process over the next three to four months to have the spot filled.

His other responsibilities at the department, however, are a slightly different story.

“I was the team leader of the Special Response Team, and that team of guys is an even closer knit group than the police department as a whole,” he said. “HPD Detective Roy Moore was appointed the team leader for that group, and a new president was also appointed for the Huntsville Police Officers Association. It’s really sad for me to have to leave those groups.”

Personally, Fitch said he also needs to thank HPD Chief Jean Sanders for her constant encouragement during his time at the department.

“I have to give Sanders a lot of credit, because she was responsible for getting me the leadership training I got and for backing me in getting a master’s degree,” he said. “I think she helped me better my education and my career, and I don’t think I could have done everything I did without her.”

Even with leaving his friends at HPD, Fitch said he has been warmly welcomed at the University Police Department.

“Police are police for the most part, and that’s the one thing that probably won’t change,” he said. “I’ve felt very welcome with all of the guys here — they seem to be excited about the possibility of me bringing in some new ideas from outside, so I’m excited, too.”