Adrienne Murray

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson College has hired a new police chief. Adrienne Meador Murray says she has “hit the ground running” since starting work in late August. Her goal is to “grow an already great department” into one that anticipates problems and educates the campus about risk.

Chief Murray, 36, comes to Davidson from Richmond, Va., where she grew up and has worked for 13 years as a police officer. For the past 10 years she worked at the University of Richmond, where she most recently was a police lieutenant and the university’s emergency management coordinator.

She replaces former Chief Fountain Walker, who stepped down unexpectedly in June after 7 years on the job. He has since taken a job as a captain with the University of Chicago Police Department.

Chief Murray arrived on campus last month amid news that the N.C. Court of Appeals had ruled the college’s police cannot enforce state law because Davidson is a religious institution. For now, the appeals court ruling is on hold. Last week, the N.C. Supreme Court issued a stay of the decision while it considers the state’s request to appeal.

Chief Murray said she was interested in Davidson because she knew of its academic reputation, and because it has a “similar look and feel” to Richmond. “Both are small private liberal arts schools,” she said.

Davidson has about 1,700 undergraduates. The University of Richmond has 2,826 undergrads and 4,344 total students including those in undergraduate, master’s and law programs.

As a first-time police chief, she said, “It was a great fit for me.” She said she’s looking forward to “the opportunity to grow a really good department.”

As she does so, she said she wants to help continue the evolution of campus public safety, which has been transformed in the wake of tragedies such the shootings in 1999 at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colo., and 2007 at Virginia Tech.

“Campus policing has come a long way,” Chief Murray said Thursday. Gone are the days when college police simply responded to incidents. “Now we’re in what I call the realm of crisis and conflict management, emergency management and hazards planning.”

As she takes on those tasks, she also brings a background in dealing with violence, assault and sexual assault.

She received a bachelor’s degree in human resource management in 2008 from the University of Richmond and a certificate in criminal justice education from the University of Virginia. The latter came after a stint in 2008 at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.

Chief Murray was visible throughout freshman orientation and the return of students in August, said she already has met with a variety of campus groups, including fraternity members and athletes.

She said she wants her officers to teach as well as enforce the law. “We’re here to ensure that safety is a priority,” she said.

Meanwhile, Chief Murray also says “town-gown relations are particularly important.” She already has met with town officials, including Police Chief Jeanne Miller and Town Manager Leamon Brice. “We are the town and the town is us,” she said.