I personally welcome you to the University of Texas at Houston Police Department website. Our site provides information about our services and our department personnel. You will have the opportunity to become familiar with our command staff and to read their biographies. You will also find crime prevention information, safety tips and links to several reports.

I invite you to tour our site to familiarize yourself with our services. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact us.

William Adcox - Chief of Police

Command Staff Biographies

Chief William Adcox

For the past 5 years, William Adcox has been the Chief of Police for the University of Texas at Houston Police Department (UTPD) which is a component of the University of Texas System. UT System encompasses nine universities and six health institutions. Not only is the UTPD the largest police department within UT System, but it is one of the largest university police departments in the United States. As Chief, he is responsible for the law enforcement and security related services for both the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Health Sciences Center at Houston, overseeing the third largest security and access control systems in the City of Houston with a staff of 100 peace officers and over 250 professional civilian personnel. Chief Adcox has implemented strong community policing that incorporates security and integrated services while encouraging customer satisfaction that exceeds expectations.

Chief Adcox began his police career in 1978, as a police officer with the El Paso Police Department. He served in many diverse assignments; Patrol, Regional Command, Administration, Criminal Investigations, Special Operations, Training, Community Services, Youth Services and Community Relations. Prior to retiring from the El Paso Police Department, Chief Adcox served as a Deputy Chief of the Office of Regional Operations. Commanding over 850 police personnel, he had operational responsibility for the provision of citywide police services. In September 1999, Chief Adcox became Chief of the University of Texas at El Paso Police Department. Overseeing law enforcement, security and major event management, he successfully conducted extensive re-engineering, capability and diversity improvements. He served in numerous institutional assignments including the Master Planning Committee and the Faculty Athletic Council. In addition, he chaired the 2001 UTEP State Employees Charitable Contributions Campaign that received local and state recognition.

In addition to his duties as Chief of Police, he serves as the Chief Security Officer for the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and as a member of the UT Health Science Center at Houston Executive Council. Chief Adcox also serves on the Diversity and Compliance Committees and is a member of the Texas Police Chief’s Association, International Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Society of Industrial Security Chief Security Officer (CSO) Roundtable.

Chief Adcox has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at El Paso. He is also a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police. He has been published in the International Association of Chiefs of Police Magazine, Managing Security Today, Law Enforcement Executive Forum, and the Journal of Healthcare Protection Management.

Chief Adcox is very proud of the UT Police Department. This Department has been CALEA accredited since 1994 and received its fourth re-accreditation in 2008. In 2009 the Department was accredited by the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) and received Texas Police Chief’s Association Law Enforcement Best Practices Recognition.

Assistant Chief Thomas Engells

Chief Engells has served with the UT Police for 27 years. Chief Engells has held positions as a Police Officer, Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain in Field Operations, Training, Recruiting, Technical Services and Internal Affairs. Chief Engells is responsible for the overall management of the Operations Bureau and serves as the Chief of Staff.

Chief Engells is a Master Police Officer, Police Instructor, Certified Law Enforcement Planner, Certified Public Manager and a Certified Protection Professional. He is an Assessor and Team Leader for the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, as well as a facilitator for the Texas Police Chief Association Foundation Texas Law Enforcement Best Practices Recognition Program. He regularly serves as a peer reviewer for a variety of government and private grant programs.

Chief Engells is a graduate of the Command and Staff College, the Texas Leadership Command College, the Senior Management Institute for Police and the National Center for Public Productivity. Chief Engells holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors, from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Science degree from Sam Houston State University and a Master of Arts degree from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Director Edward Cavazos

Director Cavazos has been with the UT Police since October 2006. Director Cavazos came to the UT Police at Houston to create and develop the Police Administrative and Support Services Bureau. The bureau includes Administrative Services functions (Finance, Procurement, Personnel, Records, Training, Strategic Planning, Security IT Standards and Design, and Major Projects) and Support Services functions (Police Telecommunications, Asset, Property and Evidence management and Control, as well as and Fleet Management.

Director Cavazos came to the UT Police out of retirement after 29 years of service with the El Paso Police Department. Of his 30 plus years in law enforcement, he has 22 years of experience in management of which 8 years are in administration. His assignments included: Patrol Operations, Traffic Operations, Training, Police Telecommunications, Community Services, Juvenile Investigations, Criminal Investigations, Task Force Command, and as a Regional Commander.

In addition to his activities as a police officer, Director Cavazos also was on the El Paso Municipal Police Officer’s Association Board of Directors of which his last four years was as the President of the Association being deeply involved in a variety of labor-management issues: a member of the Board of Directors for the El Paso police Supervisor’s Association rising to the position of Association president; and as a member of the Board of Trustees for the El Paso Police- Fire Pension Fund which oversees a multi-million dollar operation for retired El Paso Police Officers and Firefighters.

Director Cavazos is an independent Law Enforcement Promotion Assessor. He has participated as an Assessor, reviewer, and Feedback Advisor for ranks from Corporal to Chief of Police. He was directly instrumental in the implementation and inclusion of the Assessment Center into the promotional process for the ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain for the UT Police in Houston.

Director Cavazos holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Park University, Parkville Missouri. He has been certified Master Police Office by the Texas Commission for Law Enforcement Standards and Education (TCLEOSE) in the State of Texas, is a TCLEOSE Police Instructor and a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He has instructed at a variety of law enforcement training facilities and to many community groups.

His areas of instructional expertise are varies to include traffic and juvenile operations and programs, community policing and community services, supervision, management, and organizational change and restructuring.

Associate Director Ron Morris

Ronald J. Morris MA, CPP, CHPA is the Associate Director Police Administrative Services for the University of Texas Police Department at Houston. He was progressively reported to the position of Senior Director of Protective Services at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center which he held from 2004-2008. It is ranked the third best children’s hospital in the United States in general pediatrics. His major responsibilities included security, parking, employee transportation and grounds.

He graduated in 1970 from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and a Master of Arts degree in Guidance and Counseling in 1977 from Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois.

Ron has in excess of 25 years experience in the security industry.

A highlight of some past positions include: Regional Director of Safety and Security at St. Mary Medical center where he was responsible for his function at three hospitals in East Chicago, Indiana, Hobart, Indiana and Gary, Indiana. Morris was with St.Mary Medical Center for 9 years. He was the Assistant Director of Security and Campus Police at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois where he received numerous promotions. Additionally, he was a Special Agent with the Illinois Bureau of Investigation as a narcotics agent.

Mr. Morris was cited in Ioma’s Hospital Security Best Practices Benchmark & Compliance manual for his customer service and award recognition program.

He has been very active in security professional organizations. Chapter positions held by Ron Morris in ASIS International have been treasurer, secretary, vice chair and chairman. He has held the same for the International Association For Healthcare Security & Safety.

Mr. Morris has been a national speaker on various security topics and has been cited in many publications as well as authored or co-authored in excess of 15 articles in trade journals. For example, Mr. Morris authored “A Job Well Done”, Security Management April 2001. He co-authored “Public/Community/Customer Relations” chapter in the International Association For Healthcare Security & Safety Basic Training Manual and Study Guide for Healthcare Security Officers, January 2002; “Enhanced Customer Service”, Unit 2 of International Association For Healthcare Safety and Security Advanced Training Manual, October 2000; Co-authored “Nurses Learn Vital Signs of Safety”, Security Management October 2002; Co-authored “Better Safe Than Sorry” volume 22 number 6 June 2004 Home Healthcare Nurse; Co-authored “A Healthy Approach To Medical Data”, Security Management July 2004. Co-authored “Putting Vendors To The Test” Security Management April 2006.

He is a member of the ASIS International Health Council.

Associate Director David Norman

Associate Director Norman joined the UTPD in October 2007 to support the Police Administrative and Support Services Bureau overseeing technology, technical services, access control, police telecommunications, asset, property and evidence management and control, as well as the management of our fleet. He is currently the project director of several critical projects including the purchase and installation of an 800 MHz radio system and a new CAD/RMS system.

Mr. Norman has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement, retiring from the City of El Paso Police Department as the Commander of the Directed Investigations Division. During his career, he was responsible for major task forces and criminal investigations in public corruption, narcotics, auto theft, and vice.  He was also responsible for overseeing intelligence and crime analysis units including Patrol Operations, General Investigations and Special Investigations (Vice, Intelligence, and White Collar crimes), and Internal Affairs Investigations. He has a TCLEOSE Intermediate Instructor Certificate and a DPS Crime Scene Investigator certificate skilled to identify, collect and process multiple types of evidence from crimes scenes. He also received a Basic Data Recovery certification and attended the DEA Narcotic Unit Commanders Course in Quantico, VA. Additionally he was instrumental in the development and installation of the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) / Records Management System (RMS), Mobile Data Terminal (MDT), and the 800 MHZ radio and data systems.

Mr. Norman has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. His areas of instructional expertise include narcotics investigations, use of informants, supervision, management, and internal personnel investigations for discipline and corruption cases.

Captain Dom Verini

Capt. Verini has been with the UT Police for 31 years. Capt. Verini has held positions as Police Officer, Sergeant and Lieutenant in Field Operations, Criminal Investigations, Crime Prevention, Professional Development and Internal Affairs. Capt. Verini is responsible for the North Patrol Region in Field Operations.

Capt. Verini is a Master Police Officer, TCLEOSE Police Instructor and Certified Protection Professional.

Capt. Verini holds an Associate of Arts degree from State University of New York.

Captain Ron MacLennan

Capt. MacLennan has been with the UT Police for 29 years. Capt. MacLennan has held positions as a Police Officer, Sergeant and Lieutenant in Field Operations, Criminal Investigations, Crime Prevention, Technical Services, Information Systems and Project Development. Capt. MacLennan is responsible for the South Patrol Region in Field Operations.

Capt. MacLennan is a Master Police Officer, TCLEOSE Police Instructor, Certified Crime Prevention Specialist, Certified Field Training Officer, Certified Public Manager and Certified Protection Professional.

Capt. MacLennan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Sam Houston State University and has completed graduate course work at the University of Houston.

Captain Jeffrey McGregor

Capt. McGregor has been with the UT Police for 26 years. Capt. McGregor has held positions as a Police Officer, Sergeant, and Lieutenant for Field Operations, Criminal Investigations, Communications, Crime Prevention, Technical Services, Information Systems and Project Development. Capt. McGregor is responsible for Special Operations which contains the Professional Standards Component and Criminal Investigations.

Captain Jeffrey McGregor was instrumental in developing one of most comprehensive health and wellness program for law enforcement personnel in the Houston Texas and Gulf Coast Region which helped police personnel understand and be aware of the importance of proper diet, medical examinations and physical activity.

In 2003-2004 Captain McGregor helped establish the first live scan 3000 Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS Technology) workstation at the UTPD-Houston. AFIS technology helped stream line UTPD-H processes and reduce the use of overtime in regards to arrests and provided the capability for real-time identification of suspects while still in custody who refuse to provide proper and legal identification.

Capt. McGregor is a Master Police Officer, TCLEOSE Police Instructor, Certified Physical Fitness Instructor, Crisis Intervention Team Specialist, Certified Field Training Officer, Certified Public Manager and a Certified Crime Prevention Specialist. Capt. McGregor is a graduate of the Command and Staff College, the FBI National Academy and the Police Executive Research Forum.

Capt. McGregor holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Excelsior University.