HPU Assistant Police Chief Honored with Long Leaf Pine Award

HIGH POINT, N.C., July 31, 2026 – High Point University Assistant Police Chief Patrick O’Toole was presented the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award, the highest civilian honor given by a North Carolina governor, during a ceremony on HPU’s campus on July 29.

The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is awarded to a person who has shown exemplary service to the state of North Carolina and their community, as well as made a significant impact on the state.

O’Toole was recognized for his 30 years of service to the High Point Police Department (HPPD) and his continued efforts to protect the community as a member of HPU’s Campus Police. He joined the university in 2024 after retiring from the HPPD as captain of its Community Division in 2022.

HPU Police Chief Debra Duncan, who was O’Toole’s first supervisor at the HPPD, presented him with the award on behalf of the governor’s office during the ceremony inside the Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center. Officers from the HPPD and the Campus Police were in attendance to honor O’Toole.

“It’s very humbling. I never really expect this kind of recognition,” O’Toole said. “I’ve never really tried for that. That’s not what I do, but it’s obviously very humbling and I’m very grateful to be recognized and for people to recognize my work and what I do and how I do it.”

O’Toole said he knew from a young age that he wanted to become a police officer. He joined the HPPD in 1995 after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1990-93. He moved up the ranks during his three decades at the police department, working as a patrol officer, traffic officer, recruiter and supervisor in the patrol and specialty units.

After retiring from the HPPD, O’Toole said he worked several civilian jobs but did not feel the same fulfillment or sense of purpose that he had as a police officer. His wife finally asked him why was he fighting what he was built to be, and he decided to get back into law enforcement by joining the Campus Police two years ago.

“It meant a lot for me to give this award to him because he and I go back a long way,” Duncan said. “He came to me fresh out of the Marines in 1995. I was a lieutenant on the High Point Police Department, and they assigned him to me and said, ‘OK, make a police officer out of him.’ I did the best that I could, and he’s done an excellent job. He is just the epitome of a policeman. This is well deserved. I know no one else that deserves this any more than he does.”

O’Toole joins a select group of people from HPU to receive the Order of the Long Leaf award, including HPU President Nido Qubein. High Point Mayor Cyril Jefferson presented the prestigious award to HPU First Lady Mariana Qubein in April of 2024.

Other recipients of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award include Maya Angelou, Michael Jordan, Dean Smith, Andy Griffith and Billy Graham.