Chief Christopher Shaw began his career in law enforcement with his first job as a correctional officer while he was completing his bachelor’s degree. He then relocated back to his hometown of Dallas, where he became a police officer at the University of North Texas in 2009. 

Early on, Chief Shaw wore many different hats on the job in addition to being a patrol officer. He was also a criminal investigator and training coordinator and assisted with many administrative functions to review and update the department’s general orders and training materials.  

Chief Shaw was promoted to chief of police/emergency management  in 2018. In his current role, he has increased the hiring of officers and led the effort to obtain certification for the department as contractual training provider for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. He has excelled at building relationships with surrounding agencies and has led several innovations to ensure a safe, secure, and well-prepared campus. He is an active participant in the campus culture, including presenting at student and new employee orientations and coordinating safety programming and domestic violence awareness programs. As the inaugural chair of the Campus Safety and Security Committee, he contributed to efforts to improve the campus’ video surveillance system and develop the framework for implementation of the LiveSafe application along with a new emergency notification broadcasting platform.   

Chief Shaw serves on a number of advisory boards and is an active volunteer in his community, a member of several community and professional organizations, and a recent graduate of the FBI National Academy. 

“I chose the career of law-enforcement because I wanted to be a catalyst for change, bridging the gap between law enforcement and community relations.”