New Chief of Public Safety Is at Home at St. John’s

A native of Hamden, CT, Dan Rhone grew up in the heart of BIG EAST Conference culture. When an opportunity emerged to direct the Department of Public Safety at St. John’s University, it was, as the longtime safety official said, a “layup” of a decision—that is, an easy choice.

“St. John’s always stood out to me,” Mr. Rhone said. “My father-in-law is an alumnus, so we are a St. John’s family by extension. It feels like home—a community where everyone takes care of each other and shares in the collective mission.”

Mr. Rhone, the newly hired Chief of Public Safety at St. John’s, supervises the department’s 125 full- or part-time employees, including more than 80 Public Safety officers. Headquartered in the ROTC Building near the Queens, NY, campus, the department provides safety and security services to St. John’s 24 hours per day, every day of the year.

Mr. Rhone came to St. John’s from New York University (NYU) in Manhattan, NY, where he served as Assistant Director of the Campus Safety Communications Center. He succeeds Denise Vencak-Toner, who retired earlier this year after more than three decades at St. John’s.

Mr. Rhone, married with two children, sees his role as both “proactive” and “flexible”—one that anticipates community needs while adapting to emerging challenges.

“My job, and the job of the heads of the departments, is to anticipate the next song that will play, to anticipate what we are going to see down the road, and keep us ready,” Mr. Rhone explained. “It is hard to be proactive unless you can do that.”

“However, the biggest thing we can do to help the community is not to be rigid; to change as things move,” he continued. “Hopefully, we are able to do that.”

Public Safety is among the most visible of all University departments, with a fleet of vehicles and a host of uniformed officers on campus. The office utilizes more than 1,500 cameras across the campus to ensure community well-being and to support potential investigations. 

It also manages parking access, operates the campus shuttle van, and supports the LiveSafe app, an around-the-clock resource where the University community can get emergency assistance, report suspicious activities, track the shuttle, and more.

Meet Dan Rhone, the New Chief of Public Safety at St. John’s University

Mr. Rhone, a former communications technician with the Hamden, CT, Police Department, recognizes the importance of Public Safety to the campus experience. He wants the department’s interactions with the community to be efficient, engaging, and consistent with the University’s values.

“Our goal is nonenforcement engagement,” Mr. Rhone explained. “How can we engage with our community and do it in ways that are not high-intensity situations? How can we humanize ourselves while recognizing that we are all part of the same community? We realize there is a collective mission here and we are all taking care of each other—and that means something to us.”

Mr. Rhone admits it took a unique opportunity to lure him away from NYU, where he worked for eight years and from which he earned his undergraduate degree in 2022. In trading NYU’s urban environment for St. John’s, he arrived at a more traditional campus setting with a different set of security challenges.

“At NYU, when you walk out of the buildings, you are on Broadway or Fifth Avenue, or at Washington Square Park,” Mr. Rhone explained. “You are open to all of the elements of the city, and things that do not have anything to do with NYU could potentially be threats or problems.”

“At St. John’s, while we are an open campus, the reality is we have gates, walls, and things that can technically not be open,” Mr. Rhone continued. “So, access control is important here—who has access to our classrooms and buildings, and all the important parts of our campus.”

Parking is a primary concern as the University begins construction on a new basketball practice facility adjacent to Gate 4, at 175th Street and Union Turnpike. The University recently reopened the general and reserved parking lots temporarily to ease parking congestion.

“We needed to look at how we could change things and alleviate the situation,” he said. “We have to be fluid.”

How Dan Rhone’s Experience Prepared Him to Lead Public Safety at St. John’s

Mr. Rhone’s time at NYU taught him to expect the unexpected—ideal preparation, he said, for a high-profile security position at St. John’s or elsewhere. It also taught him the value of campus communication.

To that end, Mr. Rhone said his department has plans for an enhanced social media presence, which is essential not only for emergencies, but for the day-to-day operation of the campus.

“Messaging is a connection with the community,” he explained. “We intend to use our social media for safety advisements, weather updates, and more to get messages out sooner. It is also a way to get to know the community and let them know us.” 

“At NYU, not knowing what was going to happen on any given day forced us to be proactive and vigilant in trying to understand threats,” he continued. “We had to identify what our problem was, what was not, and where our jurisdiction was. How do we ensure the safety of our buildings, property, and students? Having to do those things on the fly was the best type of training I could have had.”

Striking the proper balance between safety and student liberty is at the heart of Mr. Rhone’s mission, he said. While earlier generations of students might have resented an enhanced security presence, Mr. Rhone said current college students—who came of age amid the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide campus gun violence—are willing to sacrifice some personal freedom for security.

“That is an interesting disconnect,” Mr. Rhone said. “Our students, unfortunately, come from a generation where they have been raised doing active shooter drills in school. They have come to expect a certain level of security.”

“Yet, some of us who are older come from generations where we do not want to give up certain freedoms,” he continued. “We might look at having to tap ourselves into buildings with a security card as restrictive, but our students prefer it.”

The good news, Mr. Rhone said, is that the department works closely with the New York Police Department (NYPD), which he described as one of “the most sophisticated law enforcement agencies in the nation.” Many of the University’s Public Safety officers are former NYPD members or members of other law enforcement agencies.

“There are no better trained personnel than our officers because of the history they have in law enforcement,” Mr. Rhone said. “You cannot replace their ability to respond to incidents, and their attention to safety and the community they serve, particularly the students. They are all concerned with making sure this campus is safe.”