The Spectator The independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University
Written by Bailey Wilson, Managing Editor.
After nearly four months of searching, VSU has chosen Christopher Hughes as the next chief of police for the university.
He will join the university staff on May 1, 2025 and remain as a permanent chief.
Hughes is joining the staff after the resignation of former Chief Alan Rowe in October of 2024, who left after the investigation into his behavior as chief. The investigation found that he was responsible for multiple charges of document falsification, Code of Conduct violations and inappropriate behavior while on duty. For more information on Rowe’s resignation, read here:
Hughes is joining the staff from Georgia Piedmont Technical College, where he currently serves as chief of police and dean of the school of public safety. He has over 10 years of experience and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, which he is seeking a doctorate in.
“I am honored to be chosen as the next director of public safety at Valdosta State University,” Hughes said. “Having worked in law enforcement at multiple higher education institutions, I know the importance of a safe campus. I am committed to building relationships with our students, faculty, staff, and community, and I look forward to getting to Valdosta and getting to work.”
During his interview, Hughes said he employs the golden circle model, a concept that uses the reason for doing the work to inform what the work entails and how to do it. In this metaphor, he cited the student, staff and faculty body as the “why” in his goals.
“The ‘why’ is what matters,” Hughes said. “If we don’t know what our ‘why’ is, the ‘how’ and ‘what’ ain’t gonna make a difference in the world.”
His three main strategies for policing were described as follows: safety through engagement, inclusive and culturally aware policing and early threat assessment and early intervention.
Safety through engagement is the idea of going into the community to interact with the people they are meant to be serving, including “Coffee with a Cop” events around campus and an open-door policy in order to learn more about the campus.
Inclusive and culturally aware policing is the idea of working with bias-free and mental health-aware policing. According to Hughes, all of the officers in the law enforcement academy he helps to run go through crisis intervention instruction and training.
“I don’t think at the end of the day that we have all of the answers,” Hughes said. “so we have to reach out to y’all to get them.”
He also emphasized emotional intelligence, which means hiring people who are competent in high-stress situations and can discern how to handle crisis situations.
Threat assessment and early intervention emphasizes the need for mental health awareness, as well as bystander training.
“A lot of the time, bystanders see the early signs but don’t tell anyone,” Hughes said. “Fifty-four percent of people see the early signs and they don’t tell anyone.”
He demonstrated his idea for these strategies to be focused on the individual more than the group, fostering relationships with the students, staff and faculty on campus in order to build trust with those the department is meant to protect. His goal, according to him, is to assimilate the police force into the campus culture rather than the other way around.
One of the largest parts of his proposed plan was transparency; after Rowe’s previous indiscretions, there is a campus-wide determination to have accountability in the police force, a determination he shared during his speech.
“For us to be successful, we have to be legitimate,” Hughes said. “The only way we can be legitimate is if the campus community believes in us.”
He expressed interest in involvement with student affairs, including Greek life, sports and academic affairs, in order to build relationships with the community that the force is meant to be serving. This means not only serving but participating in and hosting events for the community.
He also said that he has an open-door policy for his office, that he wants to have the community talk to him as often as they can. This also extends to feedback, which would include surveys and talking to the community.
Hughes’ discussion on accountability, accessibility, transparency and fairness helped him win the job and he will assume the role on May 1, 2025.
Photo by Bailey Wilson.
