Virginia Commonwealth University students navigate the crosswalk on Main Street in front of the student commons in 2023. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Sometimes, it helps to have two city police departments.
As City Hall and the Richmond Police Department struggle to make streets safer after a string of traffic-related pedestrian deaths last year, Virginia Commonwealth University Police decided to take an academic approach.
In 2025, 21 pedestrians were killed and more than 2,500 people injured on the streets of Richmond, according to the city’s Vision Zero dashboard. In response, from January to April of this year, VCU Police launched Operation Safer Streets, collecting data to analyze pedestrian and traffic patterns and conducting sustained educational outreach to students.
“Good policing starts with accurate information, with facts, with good, solid data,” explains VCU Police Chief Clarence Hunter Jr. “We had seen an increase in our pedestrian safety-related incidents. So, we made a decision to focus on our main core areas within our jurisdiction.”
VCU’s jurisdiction is a little more than 2 square miles, stretching from North Lombardy Street to 18th Street in Shockoe Bottom, covering both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses. Three years ago, the university expanded its jurisdiction even farther to include both the Randolph and Oregon Hill communities.
VCU Police’s 90-day traffic blitz yielded astounding results: 1,943 traffic stops, resulting in 1,760 traffic summonses. Those numbers nearly surpass figures for the entire 2024-25 academic year, which saw a total of 1,774 traffic summonses.
“We were surprised by some of the numbers that we captured,” Hunter says. “For example, on Belvidere Street, our officers were able to write two summonses for individuals going over 90 miles an hour.”
The VCU Police Department utilized its current force of 92 police officers for the effort.
“We realized that we had to make some internal changes to make sure that we could have the manpower and staffing available to go out and enforce traffic laws for a longer period of time,” Hunter says. “So, we doubled the size of our traffic safety unit from two to four.”
Hunter holds out hope that the data his department collects will paint a more accurate picture of where accidents are occurring, and why.
“After this 90-day period, our goal was to look at the data and look to make sure that our enforcement efforts, that our infrastructure efforts in collaboration with the city, that all of these things were in alignment with what the data was reflecting,” he says, adding that the department then did “an overlay to see if we were focused in the right area.”
Using separate maps, his team pinpointed where tickets and summonses were written as well as where driver/pedestrian accidents were occurring. Staff then merged those maps into one, creating a more detailed picture. Hunter says his team noticed that drivers were disregarding highway signs, such as those that don’t allow right turns at red lights.
“When we did the overlay with where the accidents were happening, the violation of disregarding those highway signs was a more causative factor than speeding,” Hunter says.
The map his crime analysis team created was then shared with the entire department as well as the city’s police and transportation departments.
“We know that the Harrison Street corridor is a problem for disregarding highway signs,” Hunter says. “And when you look at the map, that’s also where we’re having pedestrian-related incidents. So, now they know where to focus their efforts.”
Of course, it’s only just the beginning. Hunter says no single effort is going to solve the pedestrian safety problem.
“At VCU, we use this three-pronged approach: We’re looking at enforcement, we’re looking at engagement, but we’re also looking at education,” he says. “I just want to be clear that no matter how many summonses we write, no matter how many infrastructure improvements are made in collaboration with the city, this is a collaborative effort.”
Capt. Anthony Jackson, commander of special operations with the Richmond Police Department, says having a relationship with VCU Police is beneficial for RPD and the city in general, especially from a traffic enforcement standpoint. Richmond Police has struggled with officer shortages for years. Currently, the department has roughly 600 officers; it’s authorized for 755.
“We know that area is being focused on by one of our law enforcement partners,” Jackson explains. “That is nothing but an added benefit, especially for us, [as] we’re looking at our staff and shortages. We only can spread around so much, and we’re responsible for the entire city.”
Hunter added that he has weekly meetings with Andy Boenau, the director of Richmond’s Department of Transportation. Boenau says that any time the VCU Police Department can be a visible part of solving the city’s myriad traffic issues, it’s a good thing.
“It’s important for VCU to be part of that because they see things, being on their campus every day,” Boenau says. “And, of course, having so many people on foot, on bike, on scooters, on skateboards, they see behavior in their blocks that might be different than South Side, Church Hill, North Side.”
For Lt. E.L. Greer, special operations division commander for VCU Police, the 90-day safety initiative will be a recurring program.
“The freshmen come in, the seniors go out. So, 25% of our population is leaving, and we get a whole new bunch that we have to educate,” Greer explains. “And that’s the biggest challenge for us, because our community is always changing.”
