Eyes and Ears: UVA deploys their own "safety" force on the Downtown Mall

City Manager Michael Rogers informed City Council about the UVA plan via email before a March 20 City Council meeting.

UVA Safety Ambassdors are hired and managed by a company called RMC Events. (Source: RMC Facebook page)

While a pair of stories last week from NBC29 and CBS19 about UVA deploying "Safety Ambassadors" on the Downtown Mall featured comments from UVA spokespersons, even UVA president Jim Ryan, one thing was strangely absent - comments from Charlottesville City officials.

According to Charlottesville City spokesperson David Dillehunt, City Manager Michael Rogers informed City Council about the UVA plan via email before a March 20 City Council meeting, but there appears to have been no public discussion about the new security plan before it was rolled out on April 1. Dillehunt says that during discussions between UVA, Charlottesville, and Albemarle County law enforcement agencies regarding recent gun violence, UVA, through UVA Police Chief Tim Longo, offered to extend their Safety Ambassador program to the Downtown Mall and absorb the cost, which Dillehunt said was $200,000 annually.

At a UV…