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, joined Liberty’s police department in 1979 and graduated from LU with a degree in youth ministries in 1981. During his time with LU, he also has worked as a school resource officer at Liberty Christian Academy.
He 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.”
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