The University of Oregon Police Department has hired former captain Pete Deshpande as its interim chief of police, according to a UOPD statement released Monday morning.

Deshpande served with UOPD for three-and-a-half years as a captain before retiring in 2015. He also served as an officer and commander with the Eugene Police Department for 22 years.

In the meantime, Andre Le Duc, Associate Vice President of Safety and Risk Services, will oversee the search with UOPD management to fill the position permanently. UOPD and other departments will form a search committee that will review applications and vet candidates.

Once finalists for the position have been chosen, Le Duc says there will be a period for community engagement and face time with the candidates, including meet and greets with university groups and local law enforcement.

The hiring of Deshpande comes after former chief, Carolyn McDermed abruptly announced her retirement on Friday after serving since 2008.

The announcement came as a surprise, since email records show that McDermed had a schedule planned out for this week just hours before her retirement.

“I can’t speak to any of the events that occurred before I began overseeing the UOPD [last December],” said Le Duc, “But I do know that Chief McDermed made her own choice to retire and I support that choice.”

LeDuc hopes that the search committee will be formed and ready to vet applications for the position sometime in March, with community engagement with finalists set for the end of Spring Term this year.

“The biggest distinction with university law enforcement is that there is an even higher expectation of the services we provide,” said Le Duc. “This really hinges around engagement, which is why we are aiming to have the community interacting with the candidates by the end of the school year.”