Valarie Dalton was sworn in as the first black female police chief and associate vice president for Public Safety at Morehouse College.
Dalton, a 27-year veteran with the Atlanta Police Department, said she wants to bring community-oriented policing to the 66-acre campus and implement processes to make the students feel safer.
The APD veteran rose from patrol officer to a major/zone commander to head of the Office of Professional Standards.
“Safety, without a doubt, is a team effort that must be at the forefront, and that starts with individual responsibility,” Dalton said as a roomful of APD officers, her family and Morehouse community members watched during the ceremony. “Together, we will succeed in changing lives and launching tomorrow’s leaders.”
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, a Morehouse alum, administered the oath of office to Dalton during a ceremony in the lobby of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the campus of Morehouse.
“Here in the audience today are a number of other law enforcement officials,” Howard said, according to Morehouse.edu. “We have had an opportunity to work with Valerie and to see her excellent performance over a number of years and under a lot of very pressing circumstances. So we want you to know that you have selected an outstanding candidate.”
While the fact that Dalton becomes the College’s first female police chief is notable, Morehouse President John Silvanus Wilson Jr. said she is the perfect person to make sure the campus community is a safer one for students.
“I am confident that we have chosen the right person at the right time for the right assignment, and that’s our new chief,” he said.
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