# Jeff Long **Jeffrey "Jeff" Long** is the **Chief of the Utah Valley University Police Department** — the command authority for law enforcement on the UVU campus, and therefore a central figure in the dispute over **who was responsible for the rooftops** on September 10, 2025. See [[Roles and Responsibilities at the Scene]] and [[Kirks Security Detail]]. *(His exact tenure/start date is not established in the public reporting — flagged as unconfirmed. One search summary rendered the name "Chief Jeff Shaw"; every primary source — AP, the Salt Lake Tribune, the FBI's Sept. 11 press-conference roster — confirms **Jeffrey/Jeff Long**.)* ## Why he matters The campus was **UVU PD's jurisdiction**, so overwatch, drones, and the rooftops sit with his department in the responsibility map. Two things put him at the center: ### His day-of admission At the September 11 press conference era, Long spoke candidly the day of the shooting: > *"This is a police chief's nightmare… You try to get your bases covered, and, unfortunately, today, we didn't."* He said **six officers** were on-site (some plainclothes in the crowd), with a UVU officer watching the crowd **from an elevated position.** An **AP investigation** later found UVU PD deployed only **6 of its 23 officers**, **flew no drone** (clear weather; drones available for ~$2,000), ran **no bag checks or metal detectors**, and **did not coordinate** with local agencies that had drones. The shot came from the **[[The Rifle|Losee Center]]** rooftop — accessible, connected to an adjacent building by a railed walkway. ### The "I got you covered" text Kirk's private security lead, **[[Brian Harpole]]**, says that the Monday before the event he **messaged Chief Long** flagging a **student roof-access point** near the site and asking either that campus police secure the roofs or that he be allowed to post one of his own men there — and that Long's last reply was **"I got you covered."** No officer was posted on that roof. The *Salt Lake Tribune* reported the account under the headline that the **"UVU police chief promised to secure"** the roof. ## Weighing it (balance note) This is **Harpole's side of a blame dispute**, and it should be read as such: - Harpole is an **interested source** — a private contractor defending his own team's conduct and a [[Brian Harpole|defamation plaintiff]]. He cites texts, but **Long and UVU have not publicly confirmed or rebutted** the specific wording. - Critics note the messages, as described, **didn't specifically name the Losee roof**, and that a diligent close-protection detail should have **verified** rooftop coverage itself rather than relying on a text. - Since his day-of remarks, **Long and UVU's spokesperson have declined** to answer detailed security questions, citing UVU's pending **third-party review** (announced Sept. 22, 2025; no public findings yet). Both sides effectively invite a **records/FOIA** review of the chief's communications to settle it. So Long is neither exonerated nor indicted on the current record: he made an early, honest admission that "we didn't" get the bases covered, and he is the **other half** of an unresolved *who-was-responsible-for-the-roof* dispute with the private detail. That is a **coordination-and-competence** question — see [[Security Knew It Was Coming]] and [[Gaps in the Investigation]] — not, by itself, evidence of anything more. --- **Related:** [[Roles and Responsibilities at the Scene]] · [[Kirks Security Detail]] · [[Brian Harpole]] · [[Security Knew It Was Coming]] · [[Gaps in the Investigation]] · [[People Index]] **Sources:** [Salt Lake Tribune — "police chief's nightmare"](https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2025/09/11/kirk-wanted-speak-outside-uvu/) · [AP/Police1 — 6 officers, no drones](https://www.police1.com/event-security/utah-college-where-kirk-was-shot-did-not-use-drones-had-6-campus-officers-monitoring-event-ap-investigation) · [Salt Lake Tribune — chief "promised to secure" roof](https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2025/11/18/uvu-police-chief-promised-secure/) · [FBI SLC — Sept. 11 press-conference roster](https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/saltlakecity/news/remarks-delivered-by-special-agent-in-charge-robert-bohls-at-the-september-11-2025-press-conference-regarding-the-shooting-at-utah-valley-university) · [[Sources]]