Venuti promoted to vice president for public safety

Zoë Dehmer
Staff Writer

VCU promoted Police chief John A. Venuti to assistant vice president for public safety on top of his duties as chief this month. In his new role, Venuti will oversee the university police department as well as VCU Emergency Preparedness operations, and retain his sworn law enforcement status. The promotion was announced Nov. 21 and took effect immediately.

The promotion is part of a reorganization effort to, “bring all safety and emergency preparedness functions under one leader which is best practice, rather than have them reporting to different leaders,” said vice president for finance and administration David Hanson in an email.

VCU Emergency Preparedness consists of more than just sending students alerts, Venuti said. It prepares the university for a wide range of incidents including radiological emergencies, bomb threats, sexual assault, electrical problems, and security escort services.

Venuti’s promotion is expected to help communication between the police department and the emergency preparedness functions of the university.

“Given the scope and size of the organization, the AVP title is appropriate,” Hanson said in the email. “This reorganization had nothing to do with Clery reporting or any movement to find a new police chief.”

Venuti said although there are plans already in place to take action during various emergency situations, in his field of work, “You never get to a point where you are ‘there,’” he said. “It’s a constant, ongoing process of making the systems and processes you have better.”

“It’s a pretty big undertaking,” Venuti said. “It involves all emergency plans, contingency plans, recovery plans, and things like that … preparing for what we hope will never happen.”

Before becoming VCU’s police chief in February 2010, Venuti served 26 years at the Richmond Police Department and rose to the rank of major.

Along with changes to Venuti’s role comes changes to some of the high-ranking officers at the department, said VCU PD spokesperson Michael Kelly in a statement.

Former assistant chief Christopher Preuss is now director of police operations. Former investigations and security services Captain Mike O’Berry now will act as Preuss’ assistant director of police operations to oversee VCU Health System security, crime prevention, and traffic officers. The department is seeking a captain to oversee support services.

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