A lawyer/psychologist, the new director will start work December 13. University Police hired a lawyer and clinical psychologist yesterday to head the department's victim support and crime prevention branch. Susan Hawkins joined Public Safety as director of the Special Services unit. Her term will begin December 13, Public Safety Managing Director Thomas Seamon announced. The director's position has been vacant since Seamon promoted Maureen Rush to chief of police operations last January. Since then, Lt. Sue Holmes has supervised the division. Seamon's said Hawkins' counseling background will make up for her lack of experience with police work or criminal law. "I'm very excited about this job because I really am a lawyer-psychologist," she said. "One of the reasons I was hired was that I bring something new to the department." Seamon said he wants Hawkins to develop new and innovative ways to train students and staff about crime prevention and awareness. "She will bring a different mindset to these issues [because she's not a cop]," he said. "We talked to her about how we can design better programs that will attract the students and staff." He also asked her to look into suggestions from the Undergraduate Assembly's Safety Committee about how to improve walking Escort services and the possibility of starting a peer safety education program. If the program gets off the ground, Public Safety would train peer educators and help them facilitate safety awareness sessions, he said. Hawkins moved to Philadelphia in 1988 to work for the city's Health Department on AIDS issues. She expects to receive her doctorate in psychology from Widener University this spring, and she received her law degree from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1985. During her psychology graduate studies, she practiced at St. Joseph's University, Einstein Medical Center and Northwest Community Mental Health Center. She also worked for the San Francisco Health Department's sexual trauma unit, serving as liaison to the police and the District Attorney's office, and with crime victims and perpetrators as a psychology intern. Hawkins' appointment comes just before the Special Services unit moves from its current location near 40th and Walnut streets. The office is slated to move to 40th Street between Burger King and Smokey Joe's until the new Public Safety headquarters on the 4000 block of Chestnut Street is built next year. The move will take place within "a couple of weeks," depending on how quickly builders can renovate the storefront that will house the unit, Seamon said. University Police hope to increase the police presence on 40th Street, he explained. The temporary offices will also house new Sensormatic equipment and other Public Safety divisions until the new headquarters is ready.
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