UTA Police Capt. Marcus Epps was promoted to assistant chief of police for the UTA Police Department. Epps became a student at UTA in 2002.
UTA Police Capt. Marcus Epps was promoted to assistant chief of police for the UTA Police Department June 1.
Epps, a UTA graduate with two degrees, carries almost two decades of experience in university law enforcement and fills a position that was left empty after former assistant police chief Jay Tillerman became chief of police at Tarrant County College in January.
Kim Lemaux, UTA chief of police, said Epps is a thinker, and is very good at looking at something and analyzing it before coming up with ideas.
“He’s a good problem solver,” Lemaux said. “He’s very logical about things; he’s come a long way in a really short period of time.”
Epps began his UTA journey in 2002 as a mechanical engineering student before changing his major multiple times, and eventually stopped going to school, he said.
He joined the UTA PD in 2008, first as a dorm guard in April, a cadet in July and an officer in December of that year.
“I actually didn’t think policing was in the cards for me when I first started working,” Epps said.
He began working at the university as a caller for alumni, asking for donations. Epps then transitioned into a tutor supervisor for the Upward Bound program, an organization that provides academic and college access services to designated high school students in the area.
Epps said Upward Bound was where the helping mindset to give back was instilled in him.
From there, he joined the university police. He said the experience of graduating from the police academy and becoming an officer was surreal. The ceremony took place in Austin, where the university chiefs of police gave the cadets their badges and then the cadets did their oaths.
“We walked our stage, and it was like, ‘All right, have fun.’ It was very, very surreal drive back home for four hours,” Epps said.
Before his most recent promotion, Epps served as a UTA PD captain for the past two years and was a lieutenant for a decade before that.
Lemaux said the assistant chief of police position was opened to the whole department for interviews. She said one of her goals in the force is to provide opportunities for people to be promoted internally. She said the department tries to work with people and provide them with training or development to be successful both now and in the future.
Epps was the only captain in the force who could apply after Capt. Mike McCord retired from the department in May, and he did really well in the interview process and before being ultimately selected, Lemaux said.
“We’re in good hands,” she said. “We’re in new hands, but that’s not a negative thing. Marcus will bring new and fresh ideas and a different perspective.”
Epps will continue some of his old responsibilities as a captain, such as overseeing the Special Services Division and its operations, until additional promotions are completed and a long-term organizational structure is finalized, Lemaux said in an email.
“UTA is a wonderful place,” he said. “I never thought I would make my home here, but I have lived on campus, I’ve worked on campus, my kids go to school here, my fiance, she’ll be coming to school here soon. This is one of the best communities I’ve been at, and I plan on being here until I retire.”
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