In an age when violence runs rampant in schools, on playgrounds and in businesses, being prepared to deal with it has become a critical workplace safety issue. That’s where folks like Darcy Leutzinger come in.
Leutzinger, the vice president and director of security at United Wholesale Mortgage, is responsible for safeguarding more than 7,000 team members at the UWM campus in Pontiac.
Leutzinger’s team has provided security through things like procuring shuttle rides and screening more than 8,000 visitors this year alone, not to mention doing active-shooter training for more than 2,000 team members through a training program — Active Violence Emergency Response Training – he co-founded.
There was a recent random shooting at a splash pad in Rochester Hills, and there have been a number of active-shooter incidents all over the country lately.
With the number of such incidents climbing, Leutzinger says a safety force like UWM’s is necessary to be prepared.
“We have to be vigilant that this potentially could happen anywhere,” Leutzinger said. “Who would have thought that it would happen on a splash pad on a Saturday afternoon before Father’s Day with a bunch of kids? You can’t forecast that.
“So, we need to be very diligent in our job,” he added. “We constantly debrief (leadership) about incidents and talk about where we can be better at and different things we can do. We think of every contingent that we can do to keep our team members safe here. We practice and plan and do tabletop exercises, training for weather related emergencies or fires, anything that could potentially happen.”
Leutzinger spent more than 27 years with the Warren Police Department, holding roles ranging from SWAT commander to undercover narcotics officer. Following his time with the force, Leutzinger transitioned to Hollywood, leveraging his expertise to enhance the realism of police roles in films like Batman V Superman and Transformers.
He’s also a recent PhD recipient who serves as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Pacific, cultivating students’ leadership, strategic management and communication skills.
Leutzinger recently sat down with Corp! Magazine to discuss his career, the evolving task of providing safety and other issues:
Corp! Magazine: Was law enforcement something you’d always wanted to do?
Darcy Leutzinger: Actually, I worked for Universal Ambulance as a paramedic firefighter, and that was going to be my original route. And then from working with the law enforcement police down there, especially with Warren and working in the same area that I grew up with, I became very familiar with a lot of the officers that were working there and they said, ‘Hey, we’re hiring.’
I was hired in January 1987, and I worked everything from road patrol to a training officer. I was in narcotics for a long time. Detective, I was on the SWAT team for 24 years in the last 10 years as the commander of it.
Corp!: What made you interested in being part of the SWAT team?
Leutzinger: I thought it was fantastic … that you could work with a group of individuals that were like-minded, highly motivated, but also mission specific, military type of thing that you did. We had one thing to solve, so go solve it. It was from either high-risk search warrants to narcotic drug rates, barricaded government hostage rescue. We worked on a lot of different scenarios like that over the years, and it just gave you an incredible amount of satisfaction working with a bunch of individuals that work together to solve a major issue of problem together.
Corp!: Did you retire from there or did you just move on and find something different to do?
Leutzinger: Actually, I retired as a lieutenant in charge of special investigations, and I went down and worked with some other private security, did a lot of consulting with different agencies. I started my own training company, which I was going to get into. One of the training things that I developed was AVERT — Active Violence Emergency Response training — which is now one of the gold standards for active shooter response and training throughout the United States. There’s AVERT in all 50 states right now.
Corp!: Talk about what you do for UWM now.
Leutzinger: I’m in charge of security for the company itself. We’ve got a security team of about 144 full-time officers … that work three shifts 365 days a year, and we are the team that does not go home.
Corp!: Why would a company like UWM need a security force that large?
Leutzinger: We have 7,000 employees. We’ve got 19 doors here, so we make sure that there’s officers in every door where we have vehicle patrols in the parking lot. Our officers will help with tire changes, they’ll help with jump-starting your car. We’re the first ones you see when you walk into the building and the last when you leave every day.
It’s a comfort for the team, but it’s also a comfort for their families. Our median age is a little younger of a workforce here, and they want to make sure that when people go to work that their family is safe, that they’re safe. And one of the main things that I get from people that just walk by my office and the door’s open, I get a lot of thank yous. ‘We really feel comfortable here. We feel safe here.’
Corp!: You got involved with Hollywood. How did that come about?
Leutzinger: Hollywood came to me … when we had the film industry come to Michigan there for a short time, I had some people reach out to me to … to help with some weapons on set and we need somebody to make sure that they’re safe.
And after that happened, my name got around and next thing you know, I got a call from another producer bringing in another movie and we’re bringing a TV, and we see that you can do this. I developed a relationship in California with ISS Props, who are the largest weapon of prop distributor in the world. And they asked me to be the weapons armor for everything coming into Michigan. And then that kind of transcended into technical advising.
I got my Screen Actors Guild card. I’ve got speaking parts in about 10 different movies. If you look at IMDB, I’ve got just a ton of movies under my belt right there. And it was just because I was in the right place at the right time.
Corp!: Talk a little more about AVERT. How did you get that started?
Leutzinger: So being in law enforcement and running a SWAT team, I was in charge of training a lot of different law enforcement officers and how to respond to active shooter type events. Actually, my PhD in emergency management is based on the theory that everybody in law enforcement should be responding the same way, that there’s continuity in response and training to help people every situation and throughout the United States in the world.
We developed really basic weapon disarming drills for close-quarter type of situations. So, thousands and tens of thousands of people around the country can be trained on it. We offer it to our team members here as a voluntary basis.
Corp!: Has providing security for a business changed much over the years? Are there more challenges to it now?
Leutzinger: People don’t change, but technology does. So, what’s important for us to do is stay up on the latest technology to make sure that the tools that we have available can help us do our job better. So that’s something that we are always working with. We work with the other teams here, security teams at UW M, the IT teams, security teams, and then we’re always looking at what’s the latest, greatest thing. It’s about preparation, right?
Corp!: So what’s next for you?
Leutzinger: I want to be here for a long time. I think this company is growing. Our owner (Mat Ishbia) owns an NBA team (the Phoenix Suns). So, it’s interesting looking at security from that level. And plus, our team is growing and I want to make sure that this team is as prepared as they possibly can be. I want to be part of a team that every day gets to actually help somebody. And it is just amazing to me how diverse, but how alike that we really are because we have one common goal and that’s to provide the best service to our team members that we can here.
