RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Commonwealth University Police Department ranks first in the nation among colleges and universities for traffic safety initiatives, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The school took part in the 2014 National Law Enforcement Challenge, which recognizes traffic safety programs that focus on areas like impaired driving, occupant protection and speeding.
Since 1992, the National Law Enforcement Challenge has evaluated thousands of programs; hundreds of agencies have been recognized for implementing innovative and effective traffic initiatives.
“An urban campus with increased pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic presents challenges that the department has responded to with education and enforcement programs that are unparalleled on other college campuses,” said Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, the organization that coordinates the LEC program in Virginia. “Some of VCU’s best campus traffic safety programs now serve as models for other colleges and universities.”
VCU awarded for several initiatives, including (but not limited to):
- Unveiling a Win or Lose cruiser, a police vehicle outfitted as half patrol car and half taxi cab with DUI messaging to promote the use of taxi cabs versus impaired driving.
- Participating in multiple DUI checkpoints along roadways on VCU’s Monroe Park Campus with Virginia State Police and the Richmond Police Department.
- Hosting safety talks on roadway safety, bicycle laws and safety, drunk driving and pedestrian safety that reached 11,600 students and parents and more than 5,000 VCU employees in 2013.
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