Former Lansing Police Department Chief Daryl Green has been named the newest chief of police at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Green — who served as LPD chief for just under two years — retired from the department last year before joining Michigan State University.
He will serve as associate vice president of public safety and as chief for a department that includes 204 staff members at the 22,000-student university. He replaces Chief Anthony Purcell, who retired after serving as the head of the department for 15 years.
Green said he is excited for the new opportunity.
“UAB is a respected leader in public safety in the heart of Birmingham, and I look forward to joining the team in the next era of delivering on UAB’s high standard of safety,” Green said in a UAB press release. “It will be an honor to support UAB’s students, faculty and staff, providing an environment in which their important, transformational work takes place, as well as serving the alums, patients, fans, patrons of the arts and other valued members of the UAB community.”
Green was on Lansing’s police force for about 24 years, joining the department in 1997. He worked as a community police officer, assigned to the LaRoy Froh public housing complex, and was promoted to captain in 2012 before being named chief in 2019.
Green left LPD in June of 2021, and the next month joined Michigan State University’s Department of Police and Public Safety as chief of staff for MSU Police Chief Marlon Lynch. In that role, he oversaw accreditation, internal affairs, recruiting and diversity and equity and inclusion initiatives.
He could not be reached Monday by the State Journal but issued a statement through MSU.
“It has been an honor to graduate from MSU and further serve as a member of the Department of Police and Public Safety,” Green said in the statement. “I have built so many great friendships and partnerships with people throughout the Lansing region and will miss them more than anything. It is truly the community that makes MSU and the Lansing region such a great place to receive an education, reside and work.”
Green, who is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve in military intelligence, has an undergraduate degree from Temple University, a master’s from MSU and a Ph.D. from Western Michigan University.
He ushered in reforms to LPD’s youth interaction, use of force and immigration policies, and released some Internal Affairs information on the results of citizen complaints to the public on the city’s website.
LPD had controversies during Green’s tenure, including the death of Anthony Hulon, who died of asphyxiation after being restrained by guards in the Lansing lockup. The Michigan Attorney General’s office declined to file charges against the officers involved in Hulon’s death.
A May 2020 protest over racial justice following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota became controversial when LPD used tear gas on the crowd after some participants threw rocks and bottles, set a car on fire and caused property damage.
Green joined protests calling for equitable policing throughout the city, at times taking a knee to protest racism.
Upon his retirement from LPD, Green said he was most proud of how LPD officers bought into the reforms he brought to the department.
“I’m proud of the current trajectory of some of the reforms we made,” Green said. “Lots more needs to be done. I’m looking forward to moving forward in my career, and it’s time to allow someone else to steer the ship.”
State Journal reporter Kara Berg contributed. Contact reporter Jared Weber at 517-582-3937 or jtweber@lsj.com.
