VCU Police Academy adds 16 officers to the force

Ryan Murphy
News Editor

VCU Police Department added 16 new police officers to its roster at the graduation ceremony for the department’s largest ever graduating class on April 12.

Eighteen officers in total graduated as part of VCU’s 38th Basic Law Enforcement Academy, including one destined for the Virginia Union University Police Department and one for the Richmond Airport Police Department. The recruits came from varied backgrounds, including the Marine Corps, the National Guard and the Richmond Sheriff’s Department.

VCU police chief John Venuti, VUU police chief Carlton G. Edwards and Richmond Airport police chief Victor Williams were all on hand to present the recruits with their badges. Significant others, including parents and spouses, pinned the badges on the recruits’ chests to complete the ceremony.

“You arrived here today as recruits, but you will leave as police officers,” Venuti said in his address to the graduates, leaving the newly-minted officers with six words to live by.

“Constantly remember these words in every situation,” he said. “Keep them safe and help them. If you can do that, I guarantee you success.”

The 16 officers will join the VCU PD to fill the ten positions university president Michael Rao added to the force last July and additional vacancies. The new recruits bring the force to its full operational capacity of 92 officers. This graduation marks the largest academy the VCU PD has ever run, Venuti said.

The academy consisted of 19 weeks of physical and academic training, including 216 written examinations, 16,830 performance objectives and challenges like emergency vehicle operations training and “Spray Day,” where officers had to complete a training exercise after being pepper sprayed in the face.

Casey Jones was one of those recruits who completed the academy and became an officer on Friday. He said when his father, Robert Jones, pinned his badge on, they both became emotional.

“I definitely made him proud. Seeing (my father) kind of tear up, it felt good,” Jones said. “I don’t have any police officers in my family so it was kind of an honor for him.”

Jones said that the VCU Police badge was more than an indicator of authority.

“(The badge is) a huge responsibility. It’s definitely going to be a lot to get used to. It’s not just a decoration on the uniform but it definitely means a lot,” he said.

Jones, who also served as the 38th Academy’s class president, said that going through a grueling 19-week ordeal brought he and his fellow recruits together in a way none of them would ever forget.

“We started out as civilian couch potatoes and transformed into physically fit, crime-fighting machines,” he joked in his address to the graduation assembly. “We will all look back on this day and remember the blood and sweat we put forth to get to where we are today. … The 18 of us arrived at the academy as strangers and will leave as a part of a family.”