Ronni ButtsN.C. Central University announced Patrol Division Police Commander Robert Gaddy as interim police chief beginning Dec. 8 after Police Chief Damon Williams announced his departure from the university on Wednesday. The announcement was released Friday in the Chancellor’s Communique email to all students, faculty and staff.
“We thank Chief Williams for his faithful service to North Carolina Central University, and we wish him well at FSU,” NCCU said in its communique. “We look forward to the continued strong leadership of Captain Gaddy while NCCU conducts a search for its next Chief of Police.”
Williams will become the chief of police at Fayetteville State University, his alma mater, on Dec. 8.
Gaddy currently serves as the operations commander in the NCCU police department and is pursuing a master’s degree at NCCU.
Gaddy, a 1993 graduate of NCCU, returned to the university in 2022 after spending 30 years at the Durham Police Department. There, he served in roles including assistant commander in special operations, district 2 commander, SWAT operator and police captain.
From 2016 to 2024, Gaddy was also the state vice president of the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, a state lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police that has 6,000 active or retired law enforcement officers.
Williams made his announcement on the NCCU police Instagram and Facebook account after serving as police chief for more than 5 years, garnering hundreds of commenters of students and alumni expressing gratitude for his service and sadness for the change. In the video, he shared photos of his time at the university and thanked students for making “him a much better police chief than when [he] arrived.”
