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The Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) is under new leadership, but with a familiar face to Farmville residents, following the retirement of Chief Bob Beach this summer. 

Chief Doug Mooney, the former Town of Farmville police chief, has accepted the new title at Longwood University.

Mooney retired from the Farmville Police Department in 2015. 

“I met my wife at Longwood College in 1983, and we have always loved this area,” Mooney said.  “In fact, we relocated to this area in 2006, and I commuted to Chesterfield County to work until accepting the position as Farmville’s chief of police in 2010. My wife and both children are graduates of this school, so you can say I have some deep-rooted history here.” 

Mooney was a student at Longwood College in the early/mid-1980s when he got his first taste of law enforcement as a student auxiliary worker with campus police. “This was the first police department I worked at,” Mooney said. “Now my career has taken a full circle back to Longwood. In some ways, it seems natural, and in other ways, it seems surreal. It seems like yesterday that I was a student walking the grounds of this campus.”

Mooney said that since he has been chief of police in this area before, his new job is not a surprise and that he is pleased with the LUPD staff and the support the department has from Longwood leadership.

Mooney is hoping to find ways the department can increase positive interactions with the community and enhance police and community relations.  “I think in many ways, we have a good relationship with students, faculty, staff, and visitors, but there are always ways to improve,” he said.  “I also want to continue looking to find ways to increase the safety of the campus through proactive methods and using technology to benefit our efforts.”

During his college years at Longwood, Mooney eventually transferred to Bluefield College and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in organizational leadership and development. He worked for the Richmond City Sheriff’s Office before being hired as a police officer with the Chesterfield County Police Department in 1987, where he served in many different roles for more than 22 years. 

During retirement, he served as the interim chief of police for Hampden-Sydney College and command staff for LUPD during the 2016 Vice Presidential Debate.  He also served with the Department of Corrections and the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office.

“Retirement, while it may seem good, did get old after a while, and I decided I needed to get back into something meaningful in my chosen career,” Mooney said. “When this position became available, it seemed like a natural place for me to serve this community.”