Kantner to lead Public Safety & Emergency Management at Rowan

Mike Kantner, former chief of investigations for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, has been named Rowan University's new assistant vice president for Public Safety & Emergency Management.

A 30-year law enforcement veteran, Kantner, 51, will join the University on Jan. 4. He replaces the late Tim Michener, who passed away last spring.

Kantner, who began his career as a patrol officer in Westville in 1979, joined the Camden City Police Department in 1986 before moving to the Prosecutor's Office in 1998. He served as chief of investigations for the office for three years until his retirement from the county last month.

The first in his family to pursue law enforcement, Kantner earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Rutgers University's Camden campus in 2007 and his master's degree in administrative science from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2008.

A 1980 graduate of the Burlington County Police Academy, Kantner also is a graduate of the 182^nd class of the FBI National Academy, an invitation-only professional course of study for national and international law enforcement leaders. Additionally, he holds top-secret security clearance with the Department of Homeland Security.

For the past 15 years, he has served as an instructor with the Camden County Police Academy in the areas of death investigations, narcotics investigations, surviving critical incidents and critical incident investigations.

A former supervisor for Camden City's Critical Incident Negotiations Team, Kantner has lectured locally and nationally on the topic of surviving critical incidents. He teaches a criminal investigation course as an adjunct instructor at Cumberland County College.

A lifelong South Jersey resident, Kantner grew up in Pennsauken. Rowan's Department of Public Safety & Emergency Management includes 22 police officers and 18 security officers.