Hampden-Sydney College’s Department of Public Safety and Police wants Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) to join a Records Management System (RMS) system to make accessing crime reports easier for both stations. RMS is a system in which officials from Farmville Police Department, Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office and Hampden-Sydney College’s Department of Public Safety and Police use to view crime reports made by their own or a separate department. By not having the same system as the other departments in the area, LUPD is an outlier in the Farmville policing community.
Hampden-Sydney College’s Chief of Police Mark Fowler said the LUPD’s lack of participation within this system causes a “glitch” within their departments’ communications. Fowler said, “We do have that gap in there that we don’t have that direct contact with Longwood PD, unfortunately. I hope that in the near future maybe we can change that. Get them on board with the system that we’re using.”
Doug Mooney, LUPD’s chief of police, took over the position in July 2020 following the retirement of former chief Colonel Robert Beach. According to Mooney, Beach had made the decision to opt out of the RMS system that is being shared by other local stations. Mooney also said he “did not want to speak for Chief Beach” regarding his rationale for opting out.
Beach was contacted about his motivation for not using the RMS system, but declined to comment. This motivation will be further explored in a separate article.
Mooney stated that he would want to use the RMS system in the future in order to make recording and handling crimes throughout the Farmville area easier. But he did add the LUPD does not currently have a set plan to join the other departments in using it. Mooney said the university’s current system for calling other departments for off-campus reports related to Longwood University students works “better” than using the RMS system, and is not frequently needed.
Police departments use RMS to input information into it in order to easily report a crime. According to the U.S. Department of Justice - Federal Bureau of Investigation, RMS is a system that “provides for the storage, retrieval, retention, manipulation, archiving and viewing of information, records, documents or files pertaining to law enforcement operations.”
Fowler said because LUPD is not a part of RMS, police officers from Hampden-Sydney College’s Department of Public Safety and Police have to “call the chief and ask him ‘Hey can you forward me the report on so-and-so that got arrested there last night?’ Ok. Then he would have to pull it, attach it, email it to me or something of that nature.”
However, if an arrest is not widely known about or publicized, Mooney said the system of receiving a report on a student would solely “rely on each other,” in regards to himself and Fowler, for a phone call notifying their department about the situation. This system of trust can be simplified if LUPD were to participate in RMS.
Tim Pierson, vice president for student affairs, Matt McWilliams, assistant vice president of communications and Farmville Police Department Captain William Hogan have been contacted for comment and The Rotunda will continue to follow this story.
To contact LUPD call (434) 395-2091 or email police@longwood.edu.
To contact Hampden-Sydney College’s Department of Public Safety and Police call (434) 223-6000.
