The Leading Authority For Campus Public Safety

2021 Mountain Pacific Regional Director

Director Lewis Eakins

Lewis A. Eakins, Ph.D., CPP has over 35 years of law enforcement, emergency management, and security consulting experience. He is currently the Chief Security Officer & Director of Public Safety at Idaho State University with overall responsibilities for patrol operations, the dispatch center, emergency management, CCTV & card access systems, and parking enforcement on three (3) campuses. Lewis was formerly the Chief of Police at Oakwood University in Huntsville, AL; a Captain with the METRO Transit Police in Houston, TX; and the Assistant Chief of Police at Texas Southern University, also in Houston, TX.

Lewis’s higher education experience has spanned the spectrum of state institutions of higher education (armed/sworn and armed/non-sworn), and a small private institution he transitioned from non-sworn to sworn status through a bill passed in the state legislature. He serves as a consultant and trainer for the Department of Education assisting institutions with emergency operations planning, and he conducts training on several topics for the Department of Justice for campus law enforcement and public safety officers.

Lewis has held leadership positions in national and regional organizations, and he formerly served as the chairperson for IACLEA’s Education & Learning Committee. The Education & Learning Committee plans the First-Line Supervisor Institute and the Executive Development Institute. Lewis was also a presenter at IACLEA annual conferences held in Phoenix, AZ in 2016, and Montreal, Canada in 2014. At the 2020 virtual annual conference, Lewis received IACLEA’s President’s Award for his "leadership and service” to the organization.

Lewis is board certified (CPP) in Security Management by ASIS International, and he is completing the requirements for the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) designation offered by the International Association of Emergency Managers. He has attended numerous law enforcement, executive development, and emergency management training courses. He is a recent graduate of FEMA’s National Emergency Management Executive Academy Cohort II.

Lewis has an AS degree in Police Science from Calhoun Community College; a BS degree in Criminal Justice & Business Administration from Athens State University; an MS degree in Security Management from Bellevue University; and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration with a concentration in Homeland Security Policy and Coordination from Walden University. His research interests are public safety leadership.