Chief of Police Mark Dorsey joined the University of Pennsylvania Police Department in November 2004, bringing 27 years of municipal police experience, including supervision of the Narcotics Unit, the Dignitary Protection and Background Investigations Units. As the former Captain of the 15th Police District, Chief Dorsey supervised over 300 sworn and civilian personnel. Chief Dorsey also served as the Inspector of the Philadelphia Police City-wide Narcotics Strike Force, where he managed the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA); a multi-faceted program to reduce the cultivation, production, trafficking, distribution, and use of illegal drugs.

Most recently, Mr. Dorsey was the Public Safety Director for the Lakewood, New Jersey Police Department, and has served as the Director of Safety and Security at LaSalle University.

Mark brings experience and a personal approach to community policing that is a perfect fit for University Police Department. In 27 years of police work, he's made gun and drug busts, managed hostage negotiations, roamed the streets of Philadelphia as a plainclothes cop and protected high ranking politicians and foreign dignitaries but has never lost his connection to the community.

The new campus police chief is a native Philadelphian, where he played semi professional baseball and from all accounts was pretty good. He most recently was the director of security and safety at La Salle University, where he received a degree in sociology in 2000 by taking night classes.

Mark is a skilled and aggressive police officer; his reputation is that he’s totally committed to making a difference in the community. Mark is capable of making the hard choices and can be a "taskmaster" at times. However, he will never ask anyone to do something he wouldn’t. He has real credibility and will be able to build solid relationships with our University neighbors. Mark’s level of personal involvement and communication skills are critical in allowing him to reach out to the entire community.

In Mark’s tenure with the Lakewood, NJ Police Department he was able to "get people to communicate" and worked well with the community, said predecessor Wayne Yhost, the current Director of Public safety. He believes that the reason for his dedication is based on his family values. Mark is married to his wife Karen and they have three wonderful children: Beverly, Shawn and Patrick.