By Katie Perkowski

A timeline has yet to be set in choosing a permanent police chief for UK, the UK president said Wednesday.

In February 2006, McDonald Vick was named the police chief, but resigned a few months later after it was discovered that he paid a former female officer $25,000 to drop a sexual harassment lawsuit in North Carolina, according to a March 11 Kernel article.

Maj. Joe Monroe was named interim police chief after the incident and has remained in that position for more than three years.

In an interview with the Kernel on Wednesday, President Lee Todd said UK does not currently have a search to fill the position.

“I know that we have had a couple of missteps and we’ve been overly cautious, but it’s time to make a move on that,” Todd said.

Anthany Beatty, assistant vice president for public safety, said when the vacancy of the position was originally announced, there were about 70 or 80 people who applied, but that the university would have to see how many of them were still interested.

Beatty said the process for finding a police chief was slowed down when he got to UK more than a year ago so that he could understand the history of leadership with UK Police and get used to working in a campus environment.

Beatty said he has learned everything that he needs to, but that there is still no set timeline for interviewing candidates for the vacant position.

Kyle Ostrander, an undeclared sophomore, said he does not see the vacant position affecting campus safety, but that he thinks it affects agenda.

“I just don’t think he’d be able to get everything accomplished that he’d want to,” Ostrander said.

Tim Brackett, a management freshman, said he is not worried about not having a permanent police chief because he still sees campus police everywhere.

“It’s not on the top of my list to worry about,” Brackett said.

The title of interim chief comes with the same leadership and responsibilities as the permanent police chief, Beatty said.

“The reasons for the position not being filled has nothing to do with him or his leadership ability,” Beatty said. “Joe would certainly be one of the candidates for the position, as he was for the previous application process.”