As UCCS recognizes sixty years since establishment and ten years since Officer Garrett Swasey was killed in the line of duty, Kraemer Family Library honors the legacy of UCCS Police department and Officer Swasey.

The library’s current archives display, curated by Mary Rupp, Archives Librarian and Digital Repository Coordinator, shares the history of the UCCS Police Department with documents and photos of the department’s evolution.

The archives include articles from Communique and The Scribe and photos highlighting the department’s police chiefs and public safety initiatives over the years, and the evolution of the department from its beginnings with a watchman who acted as security in 1965 to the instatement of current Chief of Police Diana Cooley in 2024.

One cabinet serves as memorial to Officer Swasey and was put together by his family, including a touching tribute from his daughter, Faith. Swasey was killed Nov. 27, 2015 while responding to an active shooter situation at the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs. He was posthumously awarded the UCCS Police Medal of Valor and the Police Cross Award.

“It’s been ten years since the death of my father. People say that my eyes and my brother’s tenacity remind them of him,” shared Faith Swasey. “I was six when he died so I don’t have many memories of my father, but I still feel his presence in my brother’s laugh and in the stories people tell about him. My mother said at my father’s funeral that he lives through me and my brother, but I pray that long after my brother and I are gone that he will still be remembered for his sacrifice. So I thank UCCS and everyone else for holding onto memories that I couldn’t and honoring him in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I pray that people continue to tell his story.”

In remembrance of Officer Swasey, consider making a donation to the Officer Garrett Swasey Memorial Scholarship, which provides aid to students pursuing music or criminal justice, and to graduate students pursuing a Master of Criminal Justice degree.

To see the comprehensive archives display, head to the upper floor of Kraemer Family Library.