UMD Police Department Adds New Officers

DULUTH, Minn. — The University of Minnesota Duluth Police Department is now back to full strength as two officers were sworn in Wednesday afternoon. Police Chief Sean Huls says the UMD police force has eight officers. Wednesday’s addition was one brand-new officer and the other is a replacement for an officer who left.

The new officers are Timothy Battaglia and Joseph Zallar.

Huls is proud of all his officers and says they are very visible and approachable and students should feel comfortable talking with them.

“We’re very customer service oriented, so our officers are out there interacting with our students, our staff, and our community,” said Huls. “You know they are not only enforcers they are educators. UMD is a place of learning and discovery so we want to be a component of that. We don’t always want to take enforcement action if there’s a chance to be educators as well, we like to do that.”

Huls told the new officers that their role as a police officer can bring a lot of negativity with it, but that there is so much opportunity to make a difference. He asked new officers to hold on to the positive moments because they can make the job a lot easier and more rewarding.