Duane J. Lovello

Interim Senior Director of Public Safety & Community Engagement
Duane Lovello, Senior Director of Public Safety & Community Engagement

Duane Lovello is the Interim Senior Director of Public Safety and Community Engagement with overall responsibility for the four verticals of Public Safety: Police, Security, Emergency Management, and Systems. He is responsible for driving comprehensive alignment and coordination of talent and resources – integrating efforts to improve processes and performance. He has responsibility for leading, planning, and implementing capital projects and improving alignment with Cultural Properties Security programs, systems, procedures, and staff development. Duane also ensures security continuity with West Campus and works to strengthen collaboration in training, accreditation, professional standards, and labor relations across department units. He is also responsible for coordinating a team approach to Public Safety’s commitment to the ‘fit-for-purpose’ differential response model — leveraging the right resources to address issues, whether internal or external to Public Safety, a response model that involves ongoing assessment and innovation.

Duane engages Public Safety to build collaborative community partnerships, working across campus and with our host city of New Haven, to discuss opportunities to enhance safety, transparency, and a team approach to problem solving.

Duane began his career at Yale University in March of 2018 as director of security operations where he oversaw a uniformed security team provide unarmed security 24/7 throughout Yale’s central and West campuses. In October of 2018, he was named director of security where he assumed additional responsibilities supervising the operations of the Central Alarm Station, Cultural Properties Monitoring and Dispatch, and Yale Transit Dispatch.

He is responsible for coordinating the implementation of a new, P25-compliant trunked radio system for Public Safety. He is also a project lead on planning a new, combined Security Operations Center (SOC) as recommended in the 21CP consultant’s report. The proposed center will combine the current Central Alarm Station, Cultural Properties monitoring center, and the West Campus monitoring center into a single facility with expanded monitoring capability. A new state-of-the-art emergency operations center and training classroom is also planned. In 2022, Yale Security became one of only seven unarmed campus security departments in the United States to receive the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) Accreditation.

A native of Stamford, Duane served as chief of police in Darien, where he rose through the ranks. He holds a B.S. degree from the University of New Haven and a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He is a graduate of the 215th Session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA. Duane served as the chairman of the Connecticut Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTC) and president of the Fairfield County Chiefs of Police Association. He also served as president of both the Darien Police Association and the Fairfield County Detectives Conference. In 2020, he was appointed chair of the Police Officer Standards and Training Council’s Use of Force sub-committee, tasked with developing a standardized use of force policy and training curriculum for the state of Connecticut. In 2021, Governor Ned Lamont appointed him to the Hate Crimes Advisory Council; in November 2023, the Hate Crimes Advisory Council subcommittee on Law Enforcement Policy and Reporting presented a proposed statewide policy and reporting form to the Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTC). The policy and reporting form were unanimously approved, placing Connecticut at the forefront of best practices.