Ronnie Grice reflects on 46-year career in law enforcement, including 30+ years at K-State
By Tim Schrag '12
April Fool’s Day is a special day for Ronnie Grice, Kansas State University’s chief of police. 46 years ago, he started his career in law enforcement on April 1 in his home state of Arkansas.
“I raised my right hand at nine o’clock and took the oath of office,” he said. “They assigned me my patrol car at 10.”
He recalls later that day a traffic accident in the car led to him earning the callsign “fender” for a period of time.
On April 1, 2026, his career will come full circle as he retires after spending more than 30 years at K-State.
In 1994 Grice came to K-State to be the chief of police; he had held the same role at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Grice only planned on staying a few years. However, he ended up moving his family to Manhattan and building a life here.
“It was just something about Manhattan and the university at that time,” he said. “I could have been almost anywhere. But for some reason, my wife said this is as far north as she wanted to go because of the cold. We probably could have been anywhere in United States with the background that I have established and all the relationships I built with my peers across the country. We chose to stay here, and we're going to continue to stay here even after retirement, because this is home.”
Over the years Grice has seen many changes on campus from enrollment growth to athletic success to changes in technology. These changes meant the department would have to change with them.
“It's just been an honor to be able to serve this institution for all that time,” he said.
Grice said the university administrators including K-State presidents Jon Wefald, Kirk Schulz, Richard Myers ’65 and now Richard Linton were supportive of the needs of the department. This allowed him to strengthen emergency preparedness, advance officer safety and technology, and build lasting partnerships across campus and throughout the community.
When he started the department was headquartered at WWI Memorial Stadium. They moved several times including to Edwards Hall and finally Stone House where it is located today.
There have been more serious cases that involved injuries and even occasionally death, but Grice said that comes with the territory of police work and his department is ready to respond when called upon.
Grice can often be found on the sidelines of K-State home games. He notes that in the 32 seasons he’s been chief, he’s seen the Wildcats earn conference titles in football, men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball.
He’s dealt with thousands of cases ranging from fraternity pranks to gameday shenanigans. Each night the KSUPD, in conjunction with the Riley County Police Department, shuts down Aggieville as the bars close. Grice said that cooperation with other agencies, including RCPD, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Manhattan Fire Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and others, has helped K-State’s Police Department uphold the law and keep people safe.
“There’s no fight over jurisdiction or territory,” he said. “We just come together to provide the very best service to our community that we can. That's what we do.”
Grice has loved being chief, but come April he’ll be ready to hit the golf course.
“My plan is I'm going to spend probably four or five months of quality me time: fishing, golfing, cooking breakfast for the wife as she goes to work,” he said.