Campus policing originated with the establishment of the Yale Campus Police Department in 1894. Yale, located in New Haven, Connecticut, began an agreement with the New Haven Police Department to have two of their officers assigned exclusively to the campus as a means to deter crime on campus, and to better student-police relations. Shortly thereafter these two officers were hired by Yale to keep law and order on the campus. It was not until 73 years later that most college and university security departments became police departments. With the protest of the Vietnam War, the Kent State incident, and crime increasing on college campuses all over America, most of the 50 states did not pass laws authorizing colleges to have their own campus police department until the late 1960's. In September, 1967 Old Dominion College hired their first police officer and helped establish a regional police academy on their campus. By December 1977 the Commonwealth of Virginia and most states passed laws authorizing state colleges and universities to have a campus police department, and to require campus police officers to complete the same police academy training as the local police. During the late 1970's many private college and university public safety departments were still classified as campus security. The laws passed in 1977 only authorized state owned and controlled colleges and universities to maintain a campus police department. It would not be until years later that most states would recognize private campus policing. One of the first private university police departments in Virginia was the Hampton University Police Department. Like most private universities Hampton University had always carried the title institutional police or campus police, but it was not until 1987 when most private college campus police became state certified campus police.Who was the first police officer at Old Dominion College in September of 1967?
The first ODC Cop was Chief Ralph Davis a retired military police sergeant formerly stationed at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. In September of 1967 Davis was hired by the college to conduct a study with ODC Professor Ronald G. Spector on developing a police force. During the late 1960's Chief Davis who was the only campus police officer at the time, patrolled the campus and secured the buildings at night. However; Davis was not certified by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice as a police officer. In 1971 Old Dominion University Police hired additional officers: (Officers Tommie Hogge, James Crossan, and George Low). These three officers were the first Old Dominion University Police Officers that graduated from a police academy, and were certified by the Department of Criminal Justice as professional law enforcement officers. In 1972 Officer Hogge helps create the first and only campus K9 unit in Virginia. However due to funding the K9 unit was terminated four years later. In 1973 the department purchased a 400Mhz radio system and placed their repeater system on top of the new Batten Arts and Letters Building. During the mid 1970's Officers Ronnie York, James Thompson, and Richard Grogewski join the ranks of the police force. Today the Old Dominion University Police Department is one of the largest campus police departments, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, employing over forty police officers and eighty security officers.
