VCU news

By Michael Kelly

At the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic year, VCU Police Chief John Venuti had a simple message for would-be troublemakers on campus: “If you are here with bad intentions, we will respond very aggressively.”

During the fall semester, a few individuals unaffiliated with VCU put that commitment to the test and found themselves in custody in short order. VCU Police continued to implement an aggressive crime prevention plan throughout the year, and the department’s visibility, deployment and robbery suppression tactics proved effective in deterring crime in the spring semester.

Reported incidents of robbery on the VCU core campus decreased to three this semester from 10 in the fall. Bicycle thefts in the VCU Police jurisdiction, which includes the core campus and some surrounding neighborhoods, fell to 21 incidents this semester from 26 in the fall – a decline of 19 percent. Larcenies on campus, the most commonly reported – and the most easily preventable crime – declined 16 percent from the fall to spring semesters and are down 7.5 percent in 2012-2013 compared with the same time in the previous academic year.

“At the core of our efforts this year was a high level of visibility by both VCU Police and our partners at Richmond Police,” Venuti said. “The majority of our reported incidents are perpetrated by people from outside our campus community so we have and will continue to focus on discouraging people from coming to this area for the sole purpose of victimizing our community.”

During the spring semester, the department made numerous upgrades to its police force, technology and procedures. These changes resulted in more effective crime prevention and response and will help the department better protect and serve the community moving forward.

In April, VCU Police graduated 16 new officers from its 38^th Basic Academy, bringing the department closer to its full-staffing goal of 92 sworn officers. Throughout the year, new and veteran officers improved their skills through continual education and training exercises, such as bike school, firearms training and active shooter training.

Technology upgrades, including improved dispatch and reporting systems, reduced call times and improved the department’s collection of data.

“Our department is now fully interoperable with Richmond Police,” Venuti said. “We have the same radio, computer-aided dispatch and records management systems and that is a huge step forward in the two departments’ ability to respond to and solve crimes. Our upgraded mobile data terminals have greatly expanded the amount of information our officers can send and receive from their vehicles, which makes them much more effective on patrol.”

In the fall the university brought nationally renowned Clery Act expert Dolores A. Stafford to campus to train staff and evaluate the university’s processes for issuing federally mandated campus crime notifications. In April, VCU Police again hosted Stafford, this time for an advanced training session that included campus law enforcement personnel from across the state and across the country. Stafford’s evaluation helped the university and VCU Police Department standardize their processes to ensure compliance with the law and distribution of the most useful information related to crime on and around campus.

Because of standardized procedures and decreased crime, the number of crime-related email alerts dropped from 15 in the fall to three this semester and the number of crime-related text message alerts fell from 17 to one.

“Our policies clearly outline when we issue crime alerts and we follow those policies,” Venuti said. “This semester we have seen a decline of crimes like robberies and aggravated assault within the core campus area, so alerts have declined as well.”

Community engagement continues to be a priority for Venuti and his officers. Throughout the semester, the department participated in numerous fundraisers, including the annual Dunk-A-Cop, and educational events to promote the safety and wellbeing of the campus community.

These efforts helped strengthen relationships between the department and the VCU community and helped improve the quality and quantity of information received from students, faculty and staff.

“I think the department’s image and reputation with the students is clearly changing in a positive manner,” said Venuti. “The community wants a department that is highly visible, approachable, transparent and willing to explain their efforts and rationale. I think they have that police department. If students have ideas, suggestions or improvements, they know we’re always willing to listen and willing to involve them in what’s going on.”

VCU senior Jae Lee, president of the Student Government Association, said engagement and communication efforts have resulted in positive changes and an increased feeling of safety on campus.

“There have been many changes that have improved the student’s safety and comfort,” said Lee. Compared to just a few years ago, “there was a lot more communication between Chief Venuti and the Student Government Association, as well, to keep a constant line of communication, so that the VCUPD could be on top of any safety issues that students experienced.”

This engagement with students is evident in the improvements to the RamSafe transportation program. The system had been hampered by inefficiencies until VCU Police, along with Parking and Transportation Services and other partners, engaged in a dialogue with students, eventually producing the much-improved system that Parking and Transportation operates today.

The VCU Police Department works 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure a safe and healthy work, living and learning environment for the faculty, staff and students of Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU Police can be reached at (804) 828-1234 if you are on campus and have an emergency, see a crime, or need to speak to someone right away. For emergencies off campus, dial 911. For emergencies, VCU Police can also be reached at (804) 828-1196.

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