The Virginia Tech police department now has new offices, new positions, and new officers to start off the new year. More than 20 percent of the department will be new hires due to combination of new positions and recent departures. After the VT shootings last April, the university approved $487,400 in new funding to the department, which included 11 new positions—six officers, a deputy chief, a sergeant, and a detective. All of the officer positions have been filled, and the department is currently in the process of finding people for the rest of the positions.

With the new positions added to the department, the total amount of officers at VT is now 50. The department oversees the university’s campus watch system, which consists of security officers who walk around campus.

As far as training the new officers goes, there is an either to 12-week field-training period and officers who aren’t already certified by the Department of Criminal Justice must also go through a 20-week course at Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy in Salem. Part of the reason that there have been additional officers added to the department is because they received more calls last semester than it has in the past, likely due to people being more aware of suspicious activities. Officers also get busy covering events, but Chief Wendell Flinchum says that the morale is good. Despite the increase in numbers and space of the department, Flinchum says the department’s philosophy will remain the same. “That’s protecting the students, staff, faculty and visitors here at the university,” he said.