For more than 21 years, Margo Bennett served as a progressive leader in the University of California Police Department, Berkeley. UC Berkeley is routinely recognized as one of the nation’s top public universities. With over 45,000 students and a geographic location covering over 1200 acres in multiple jurisdictions, Chief Bennett led the University of California Police Department through decades of change. She was known as a strong and collaborative partner within the campus community, the University of California Council of Chiefs, Alameda County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff’s Association, PAC-12 Chiefs of Police, California Highway Patrol and other state-level jurisdictions.

Margo joined UCPD in 2002 as a Captain, overseeing the Criminal Investigations Bureau, Office of Emergency Management, Services Division comprising of the Records Unit, a fully functioning 24/7 911-Communication Center, Crime Prevention Unit and the Community Engagement Unit. Margo managed the Administration Division, overseeing the budget, purchasing, and all aspects of recruitment, hiring, training and retention. After leading the Administration Division, Margo was selected as the Chief of Police in 2013, where she served until her retirement in February 2023.

Margo’s commitment to the safety of the campus community solidified the strong partnerships developed and maintained in the campus Behavioral Threat Assessment program. She championed the need for trauma informed responses to violent crime and pushed trauma informed interview training as a protocol for all sworn officers. Margo’s leadership in crime prevention involved modernizing the campus access control systems, metal key management, and the installation and management of rapidly developing alarm and video systems.

As Chief, Margo commanded and led the police department through their approach to high profile events, campus protests involving sensitive locations and numerous events surrounding visitors with polarizing points of view. Such events included Peoples Park, Occupy California, 22-month tree occupation at Memorial Stadium, and challenges of free speech events surrounding controversial topics. Many of these events had reactions on opposing sides of the controversy. Margo worked closely with the University administration to create a sound and effective approach in the development of event policies and the design of operational plans needed for each event. Margo was intricately involved in the command and response to events that had the potential to go from peaceful to violent. She was known by her campus colleagues for her deep knowledge of public safety and policing, her strategic intelligence and her understanding of the goals and culture of the campus. Margo became a trusted partner of the UC Berkeley leadership because they respected her demonstrated ability to think about things in a different way, to adapt strategy to goals and to successfully navigate through tense minute-to-minute management of situations.

Margo’s commitment to the UC Berkeley community during her tenure as Chief was significant in the area of community engagement. She was praised by her campus leadership for her collaboration and support in the development of the campus mental health response team, her efforts establishing the campus independent police review board, commissioning of a campus wide survey through the Goldman School of Public Policy, initiating a peer review of UCPD policies and procedures, identifying and developing community engagement officers to partner with community groups, identifying public information officers within the department to use social media platforms to inform and engage the campus community. Margo implemented technology for real-time campus feedback and worked within her department and the UC Office of the President to publish police activity data to further promote transparency with the campus and community at large.

Internally, Margo was heavily involved in negotiations with the system-wide police union and unions involving non-sworn personnel. She revamped the hiring process of new officers which now includes community representatives in the recruitment and selection processes. She enhanced the onboarding process for new officers to acquaint them with the campus culture before they began their service and is most proud of building a tremendously diverse police department workforce. Through her leadership, she led the process for the Police Department’s certification by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators.

In addition to her many accomplishments at the University of California, Margo’s 45-year law enforcement career involved service as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation where she investigated financial crimes and was assigned to the FBI Academy as a Supervisory Special Agent and Academy instructor. Margo also served as the Chief of Police at the Northern Virginia Community College, one of the nation’s largest multi-campus community colleges. She began her law enforcement career at the University of West Georgia where she also earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and Master of Education degree in Counseling and Educational Psychology.