Liberty University names new police chief
February 18, 2009 | Virginia News
Liberty University named its new police chief this week — Col. Richard D. Hinkley, a 1981 alumnus. Hinkley replaces retired Virginia State Police Capt. Howard Gregory.
Nearly 30 years ago, Col. Richard D. Hinkley joined Liberty University’s police department. Now, he’s serving his first days as police chief.
Hinkley was named the school’s new police chief last week, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said Tuesday.
“He just has a deep understanding of Liberty and how the community works,” Falwell said of Hinkley.
Former Police Chief Howard Gregory retired last week after serving as head of the department for about a year, Falwell said.
Hinkley, 53, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1973-1977 before attending Liberty (then Liberty Baptist College). He joined Liberty’s police department in 1979 and graduated from LU with a degree in youth ministries in 1981. He worked in security at Liberty until 1990, attaining the rank of lieutenant.
From 1990 to 1996, he served with the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office in New York, first as a corrections officer and then as a deputy.
Hinkley returned to Liberty in fall of 1996 and has served the Liberty University Police Department in the areas of patrol, training, supervision, administration, K-9, and as a School Resource Officer for Liberty Christian Academy. He was promoted to major in May 2008 and was responsible for all training and oversight of administrative functions of the LUPD.
Hinkley said he hopes to move the department’s roughly 60 officers to a “community policing approach.”
Visibility on campus is one form of crime prevention, said Hinkley, whose father was a police officer in Michigan, and his son, Joel Hinkley, works as an officer with the Lynchburg Police Department.
“When there’s some real dire emergency, we may make an arrest,” Hinkley said. “But we have a lot of tools to deal with our students in the dorms, talking to RAs, letting them know that we’re there.”
Falwell said that approach was one reason for choosing Hinkley.
“That’s the direction I want to see LUPD go,” Falwell said. “I want it to become more of a student service agency as well as provide security. I thought he’d be the best one to take the department in that direction.”
Sources: Lynchburg News & Advance and Liberty University
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