Ralph Oliver, director of the Kansas University Public Safety Office and chief of police, will retire Dec. 31 after nearly 40 years with KU law enforcement, KU announced this week.

Assistant Director of Public Safety Chris Keary, who has been with the office since 1982, will serve as interim director beginning Jan. 1. According to KU, a search for Oliver’s permanent successor will begin in the spring.

Oliver is a Kansas City, Kan., native and a veteran of the Coast Guard, according to KU. Prior to beginning work at KU, he was a patrol officer for Rainbow Mental Health Center in Kansas City.

Ralph V. Oliver is chief of police at Kansas University.

Oliver became a police officer at KU Medical Center’s Public Safety Office in 1977. He was named captain of the KU Public Safety Office on the Lawrence campus in 1984 and associate director of the office in 1994. Oliver became director of KU Public Safety and chief of police in 1997.

While director of the KU Public Safety Office, Oliver’s accomplishments include increasing the office’s visibility to the public, ensuring security technology is up-to-date, working with the Student Senate, and increasing the number of body cameras worn by patrol officers, according to KU. He also has unified radio and emergency phone systems with the Lawrence-Douglas County Emergency Communications Center and added a full-time emergency management coordinator at KU.

“Ralph has been an important leader at KU during a time of immense change in both law-enforcement practices and public expectations,” Diane Goddard, vice provost for administration and finance, said in a news release.