Our Team
Our Team
The Division of Public Safety is staffed by people who genuinely care about your well-being.
We may have more in common than you think.
Our staffers are community members just like you, and their interests, their life experiences and the things that drive them are what make the Division of Public Safety and University of Illinois Police Department truly unique. When you learn more about our people, then the picture of who we are as an organization becomes clearer.
Meet just a few of our staff members below, or contact us anytime.
‘Part of the change’
Officer Nina Broadnax has been a police officer at the University of Illinois Police Department since 2019.
Her explanation of why she got into policing is simple: She wanted to make a difference.
“I believe to see change, you have to be a part of the solution,” Broadnax said. “I want to be a part of the change. I want to be able to leave a lasting positive perspective of not only myself but those that I work with. It only takes one person to make a difference.”
As a patrol officer, Broadnax spends time in various areas of campus – her visible presence helps to deter crime, and she responds to emergencies and non-emergency calls in the campus area. But it’s not just all responding to calls, she says.
“I go out of my way to speak to our students and surrounding community, without having a call for service,” she said.
In her free time, she says she likes to paint, sing, crochet and, occasionally, roller skate.
“I’m a bit of a goofball, a little weird, enjoy having fun and love to help in any way I can,” Broadnax said. “If you see me don’t hesitate to say, ‘Hey!’”
Perfect fit for a social worker
Megan Cambron started at UIPD in 2021 as the department’s first ever crisis outreach coordinator. As a licensed clinical social worker on the Response, Evaluation and Crisis Help (REACH) team, she provides clinical care and decision-making in the field during crisis calls.
She said she feels lucky to have been able to use her education to help people in different areas as she previously worked with children and families, with veterans, and now with the campus community through UIPD.
“When I was younger, I didn’t understand what social work truly was,” Cambron said. “But as I matured and settled on a career, I knew I wanted to be able to care for people, to walk beside someone who was hurting, and to provide connection and hope. Social work seemed to be a perfect fit.”
She says her family life is extremely important, but she also likes to take care of herself, too.
“I love to read, listen to music, go to concerts, cook, bake, and start home improvement projects that my husband will inevitably have to finish,” Cambron said. “I probably have three home projects in progress at any given time.”
A new way to engage
Lt. James Carter has worked on patrol, with department’s Community Outreach and Support Team, and now supervises the Detective Bureau.
At the time he was with COAST in 2021, it was a new department effort to enhance outreach and programming, and also to support students, faculty and staff who are experiencing mental health crises.
“I was responsible for facilitating relationship building and establishing new lines of communication with the campus community and the greater community,” Carter said. “I am proud of the fact that I had this opportunity to engage with our community in this new capacity.”
Sgt. Carter got into policing because he has always had a passion for helping people and to protect people from being hurt. In his free time, he says he loves to hang out in his cabin and is learning to play bass guitar.
The voice on the other end
Telecommunicator Kenny Costa has been serving the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign community since April 2011, most of that time as a telecommunicator at UIPD.
“I am one of the nine telecommunicators you will hear answer the phone when you call into our police department main phone line and the one of the voices you will hear during the overnight hours,” Costa said. “I answer phones, enter paperwork, assist officers with requests, and listen to radio traffic and respond when needed.”
Telecommunicators also work with the department’s security camera network, and Costa played a key role in the 2017 investigation into the kidnapping of a U. of I. visiting scholar when he discovered crucial video footage that became a turning point in the case. He was one of three UIPD staffers who were awarded the Chancellor’s Medallion for their work in that incident.
“I have always wanted to help people and felt law enforcement and dispatching was a perfect job for me,” Costa said. “I love what I do here at the University of Illinois Police Department and work with some great people who share the same passion that I have for my job.”
Costa said he also likes to brag about his daughter who recently made the Dean’s List at her college and his son who recently joined the Army.