Jamal Jackson named community services officer for Virginia Tech Police Department
Jamal Jackson has been selected as the community services officer for Virginia Tech Police Department effective Aug. 20, taking over the role after Daniel Guilliams retired in February.
As community services officer, Jackson is responsible for monitoring the emergency phones, panic alarms around campus, implementation of crime prevention through construction and environmental design, creating a community relations survey, and handling the crime prevention campus report.
“Officer Jackson has demonstrated great interest in advancing our crime prevention and outreach efforts, and we believe his selection will strengthen our connections in the community,” said Mac Babb, Virginia Tech chief of police.
Jackson has served on the Virginia Tech Police Department since December 2019. In 2023, Jackson became a residence life resource officer. In that role, Jackson realized he wanted to dive more into the crime prevention aspect of the job. “I’m a naturally curious person. I look at a crime and try to solve it, but my head started leaning toward ‘how can we prevent this?’,” he said.
He compares the community services officer (CSO) to being a residence life resource officer but for faculty, staff, and graduate students. “The resource officers here are focused on residential well-being, the students, the student leaders, and our student organizations. The CSO should be that link for the Virginia Tech community to make sure that they have a resource to talk about campus safety,” said Jackson.
Virginia Tech has been designated a crime prevention campus by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. Only eight campuses in the state hold this distinction. Jackson is the only Virginia Tech officer that has the certification for crime prevention specialist. To receive the certification, an additional 80 hours of training in crime prevention work is required.
The Virginia Tech Police Department is a full-service, nationally accredited police agency that provides the same level of service offered by municipal police departments, as well as other services unique to an academic institution. The department is responsible for a community of more than 50,000 students, employees, and visitors at Virginia Tech, 24 hours a day. The department works closely with administrators, students, and employees to create and maintain a secure atmosphere and oversees the Virginia Tech Rescue Squad.
