University Police Chief Named Chief Of State’s Law Enforcement Association
Calvin Sellers, who serves as Police Chief for the University of Mississippi, has been named as the president of the state’s campus law enforcement association. – Photo Provided
Sellers Calls Yalobusha Home
Staff Report
OXFORD- Calvin Sellers, chief of police at the University of Mississippi and a former Yalobusha County resident, has been named president of the Mississippi Campus Law Enforcement Officers Association.
Sellers, a member of the association for more than 20 years, said he’s seen the good MCLEOA does in helping support legislative endeavors that assist law enforcement. In his new role, Sellers said “he hopes to keep the association moving and growing in that direction.”
Although Sellers was born in Greenwood, he considers Yalobusha County home. His father, Buford Sellers, was pastor of the Oakland Baptist Church for 25 years.
Sellers attended school in Oakland until it closed and then went to Coffeeville where he graduated in 1971. He worked for the Water Valley Police Department in 1984 and 1985. “I loved working for Water Valley,” he said. “It was my adopted hometown.”
Sellers joined the University Police Department and rose to the rank of captain of patrol services. In 2000, he left to become police chief at Mississippi University for Women, the position he held before returning to Ole Miss as chief of police in July 2008.
“What has happened is that campus law enforcement has been incorporated into traditional law enforcement,” he added. “We still have to maintain our identity because we have other responsibilities than, say, the City of Oxford or the City of Water Valley.”
Chief among those responsibilities is protection of the students. “We have people bring their child here – although they are 18 years old – and we’re responsible for their safety.”
Sellers is a 1997 Ole Miss graduate with a bachelor’s degree in public administration with emphasis in criminal justice. A certified Mississippi Law Enforcement Officer, Sellers has additional training in juvenile justice, domestic violence and cyber crimes investigation.
He is a certified instructor in counterterrorism and courses in Community Emergency Responders Team and Basic Physical Defense for Women.
Sellers and his wife, Diane, reside in Calhoun County.
