VCU Police pedestrian safety efforts honored by Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police

By Jake Burns
VCU Police

The Virginia Commonwealth University Police Department was honored this week by the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police as its 2026 Campus Roadway and Pedestrian Safety Champion.

The new award is presented to a campus police, public safety or security department, or to an individual employee, team or unit, for outstanding service and initiatives supporting the promotion and enforcement of roadway and pedestrian safety.

Members of VCU Police accepted the award at the VACP's annual conference in Roanoke.

"Our department is appreciative of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police for this honor," said Clarence T. Hunter Jr., chief of VCU Police. "It speaks to the men and women of this department who are on our roadways, sidewalks and campuses every day. They work incredibly hard to enforce traffic safety issues and engage our VCU community in education."

The department was selected by the awards committee for its comprehensive, three-pronged strategy - focusing on enforcement, education and engagement - to protect a high-density urban campus handling over 2.5 million vehicles and thousands of pedestrians monthly.

VACP highlighted several key factors in its decision:

• Targeted enforcement: VCU Police conducted data-driven enforcement in high-risk corridors (including Belvidere and Harrison streets), issuing over 2,400 traffic summonses and 1,000 parking citations in calendar year 2025.
• Community education and outreach: VCU Police engaged over 72,000 individuals across nearly 300 events, launched the "Heads Up, Rams" social media campaign, and created a travel safety webpage and safety messaging that reaches 65,000+ VCU community members.
• Infrastructure improvements: VCU Police collaborated with university and city officials to help implement and assess physical safety upgrades, including pedestrian signal retiming, new crossing signage, speed studies, curb extensions and turn-hardening projects.

Also during the award ceremony, three members of the department - Det. Caine Green, Officer Kynneath Moss and Det. David Pulliam - were recognized as Virginia Traffic Safety Specialists Level 1 by VACP. They had completed at least two years of independent patrol or traffic enforcement, speed measurement certification, field sobriety testing certification, advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement training and traffic incident management training.

Pedestrian and roadway safety remains a top priority for VCU Police. As a result of the sustained enforcement, VCU Police issued 4,511 traffic summons last academic year (August 2025 to July 2026) - a 154% increase over the previous year - and made more than 5,600 traffic stops.