police

Chief Pennington Graduates from a Leadership Development Program

Fri, Nov 21, 2025

Chief of campus police, Joe Pennington, recently graduated from the Southeastern Leadership Academy (SELA). The five-week leadership development program is led by top law enforcement personnel as part of the Law Enforcement Innovation Center’s leadership training. This respected program gathers public safety leaders across the region to strengthen management and leadership skills.

Graduating from the academy is a significant milestone for both Chief Pennington and the Department of Campus Police.

New Criminal Justice Lab in Gallatin

  • February 24, 2020

Planning a crime isn’t easy. There is plenty to consider. Metro Nashville Police Lieutenant Frank Ragains is an instructor at Volunteer State Community College. He designs mock crime scenes so that students can collect evidence and document the scene with a critical eye. Effective evidence processing is important in a criminal investigation. Mishandled evidence could be lost or found inadmissible in court. Vol State students now have more room, and more time, to investigate mock crime scenes thanks to a new Criminal Justice lab building at the college.

Vol State Campus Police Ranked 14 in National Report

  • March 16, 2018

The Volunteer State Community College Campus Police Department has been recognized as one of the top college law enforcement departments in the nation. The website Bestcolleges.com ranked the Vol State police as number fourteen in the nation for campus security, using 2016 data. In addition to the crime data used in the study, the report also cites sex assault and theft awareness sessions held on campus, and an emergency alert system as reasons for the ranking.

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