NCCU taps Virginia officer as police chief

North Carolina Central University has picked Odetta Johnson, an alumna with extensive law enforcement experience as chief of its campus police force.

Johnson most recently served as a major and chief of staff with the Richmond, Va., Police Department. An Army veteran, she previously was commander of the First Precinct in Richmond, supervising a staff of 122 employees, and served as interim chief of police for Virginia Union University.

She succeeds Willie Bell, who had served as interim police chief since September 2014, following the dismissal of Chief Timothy Bellamy, who had been charged with driving while impaired.

Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from N.C. Central and has also completed an MBA. Her appointment as N.C. Central police chief is pending approval by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission.