When she’s not fighting to keep bad guys off the street, Tracie Keesee is working on a PhD in organizational communication and ethics. Photo: Michael Richmond
It never hurts to have a cop as a neighbor.
DU-area residents have one in Tracie Keesee, the new Denver Police Department District 3 commander.
She grew up just minutes from campus, so she knows the University area as well as she knows her badge number. And what’s more, she’s a DU student.
“I love the people, the officers here and the members of the community. It’s a pleasure and privilege to serve them,” Keesee says.
She’s spent 17 years on the force as a detective, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and now as the top cop in the district, a post she took in June 2006.
“It’s a wonderful area and school, and it’s great to be back here as the commander,” she says.
When she’s not fighting to keep bad guys off the street, Keesee’s working on a PhD in organizational communication and ethics.
Although earning a PhD was a personal goal, she says she plans to use her degree to examine communication issues between police and the public as well as internal communication problems in police organizations. She expects to be finished with her studies by December 2009.
Keesee, a graduate of the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., says her next career step is division chief.
Roy Wood, Keesee’s adviser and chair of the Department of Human Communication Studies, calls Keesee “an excellent practical scholar” and says she relates what she learns about communication and ethics to her police decision-making and community relations.
Still, he says, “It took me a while to get used to a having an eager graduate student in the front row who polishes her shoes and packs a gun.”