Hassell Named University Police Chief

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 9, 2025) – A dedicated public safety executive with nearly 30 years of experience, including service in the Triad and with a historically Black university, will lead the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Police Department.

Robert A. Hassell, Ph.D., who recently announced his pending retirement from the Rocky Mount, North Carolina, police department after more than four years as chief, will begin serving as N.C. A&T’s police chief and associate vice chancellor of Police and Public Safety on Aug. 1.

“Chief Hassell’s extensive service in law enforcement leadership made him an outstanding candidate for North Carolina A&T,” said Chancellor James R. Martin II. “We look forward to the impact I believe he will have on our exemplary police department and public safety operations.”

Under Hassell’s leadership, the Rocky Mount Police Department established its Real Time Intelligence Center and Virtual Call Center, overhauled its 911 Communications Center and reduced personnel vacancies from 32% to less than 10% to improve community service.

Before Rocky Mount, Hassell was Reidsville, North Carolina, police chief for almost seven years and associate vice chancellor of Police and Public Safety at Fayetteville State University for more than two years. He also served as Hope Mills, North Carolina, police chief for nearly three years and Fairmont, North Carolina, director of public safety-police and fire for four years. He began his law enforcement career with the Kinston, North Carolina, Police Department in 1995.

Gov. Josh Stein recently appointed Hassell to serve on the State Emergency Response Commission, which is responsible for protecting the state's citizens and environment through effective emergency planning and informing the community of chemical hazards. Hassell also serves on the N.C. Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission, including as vice chair of its planning committee, as an appointee of the N.C. Association of Chiefs of Police (NCACP). He is past president and past regional director of the NCACP.

In addition to holding a Ph.D. in management and organizational leadership from the University of Phoenix, Hassell has an MPA from Central Michigan University and B.S. in criminal justice from the University of Mount Olive. He earned his Advanced Law Enforcement Certificate from the N.C. Department of Justice Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission in 2005 and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Mount Olive since 2009.

A member, past president and past regional director of the NCACP, he also is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Police Executive Research Forum, North Carolina Police Executive Association, and Law Enforcement Advisory Group, a subcommittee of the N.C. Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice.

“Chief Hassell’s combination of educational accomplishment, career success and community service is something you don’t often encounter in a single candidate,” said Vice Chancellor of Business and Finance Virginia Teachey, to whom Hassell will report. “Those qualities make him a one-of-a-kind fit for our doctoral research university and America’s largest HBCU.”