Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 20, 1995 TAG: 9509200027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Eight people, ranging from a lawmaker to a parking director, sang the department's praises and urged that a national commission grant it accreditation for its professional excellence.
David O. Steingraber, public safety administrator with the Wisconsin Division of Law Enforcement Services, headed Monday's hearing and said he shared many of the positive feelings expressed. He and two other assessors, Daniel Flores of the Georgetown University public safety department and assistant chief John Wagoner of the Middle Tennessee State University police, will make a recommendation to a national panel by next month.
That group, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc., is expected to make a decision at its November meeting in Omaha, Neb. If it votes in Tech's favor, the department will join Roanoke, Roanoke County and Blacksburg as Southwest Virginia agencies that hold the coveted status.
Tech's Sensitive Crime Unit, which has six officers with special training to aid investigation of sexual assaults and so-called "hate crimes," wasn't mentioned in public Monday. The unit has provoked the suspicions of political conservatives, including the editors of the Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial page, who opined against it Sept. 9. The day before, The Washington Times published a front-page news article that included critical comments on the unit.
But Monday's emphasis was, as Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, put it, on the department's record of hard work and professionalism over the years.
Approximately 40 people attended a half-hour public hearing Monday at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center at Tech. The crowd included university officials, officers from other departments and members of the Tech force, which includes 33 sworn officers and 12 full-time staff members.
Blacksburg Police Chief Bill Brown said he had found the Tech department to be progressive and innovative over the years. The Tech force, Brown said, has found ways to reach out to different parts of the university community.
Roger Rector, who heads the state police's investigative unit in Salem, said he'd worked with the university's police in many areas over the past two decades, including drug and other criminal probes. He and state police Lt. M.E. Frank, who supervises field operations out of the Salem office, praised the professionalism of the department.
Curtis Lynch is a former Tech and Roanoke police officer who is now director of Tech's parking services. Lynch said his four years with the department helped him grow professionally. Today, he finds the department easy to work with on parking and traffic issues surrounding football and basketball games and student move-ins and move-outs.
Catherine Goree, Tech's recently arrived dean of students, said she's watched at the first two home football games this year as officers enforced the law against intoxicated students. She praised the officers as being both "gentle and fair."
Ronnie Stephenson, a former student-body president who graduated in May, said the Tech officers "represent what police departments should be."
by CNB