Appomattox State Police Headquarters

Headquarters for Division III -- the Appomattox Field Division -- of the Virginia State Police is located on State Route 613 just north of U.S. Route 460 two miles west of the Town of Appomattox.  Covering 15 counties in Central Virginia stretching from the North Carolina line to the West Virginia line, the headquarters serves the counties of Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Augusta, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Greene, Halifax, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nelson and Prince Edward.  The uniformed Bureau of Field Operations is staffed by 25 supervisors, 115 troopers, 14 dispatchers, 3 call takers and 14 support positions, totaling 171 employees.  The Bureau of Criminal Investigation is staffed by 6 supervisors, 32 special agents, and five support positions, totaling 43 employees.  A supervisor and two electronic technicians from the Communications Division also are assigned to service and maintain communications equipment for the State Police and other state agencies.

Built in 1939, the original Division III Headquarters building is just north of the new building and served as the local area office from 1954 to 1997.  Division Headquarters was moved into the three-story brick building on the hill south of the new Headquarters building on April 12, 1954.  Built by J.E. Sears and Co., Inc. of Appomattox, the new Headquarters building was occupied on June 23, 1997.  Covering approximately 12,000 square feet, the building provides space for a computer-aided dispatch system, administrative offices, a polygraph examination facility and related equipment.  The area office serving Appomattox and Prince Edward Counties is located in the three-story brick building adjacent to the new Headquarters and is staffed by a first sergeant, sergeant, 10 troopers and one clerk.

Division III Commanders

Division III’s Fallen Heroes

Regrettably, seven Division III troopers have lost their lives in the line of duty:

Inspector Phillip C. Via died Jan. 11, 1929, from injuries suffered Nov. 28, 1928, near Waynesboro in a motorcycle crash while escorting President Calvin Coolidge when he visited “Swannanoa Club” for a week’s hunting trip.

Trooper William Raymond Thompson was killed Sept. 23, 1935, when he attempted to capture three bank robbers at Fork Union.  Trooper Thompson disarmed one robber in the doorway of the bank, but was then shot by another robber from within the bank.  This individual then shot Trooper Thompson in the back a number of times as he lay on the ground.

Trooper Robert Wright Smith was killed on Nov. 21, 1951, while on routine patrol in Pamplin when his car was struck by an eastbound passenger train.

Trooper Henry Murray Brooks, Jr. was killed in the early morning hours of June 10, 1956, when struck by a car while investigating a traffic crash in Pittsylvania County.

Trooper Bernard Walter Wright was killed Jan. 17, 1976, when his patrol car skidded on ice and overturned during the pursuit of a violator on State Route 696 in Halifax County.

Trooper Henry Noel Harmon died Feb. 7, 1995, as a result of being shot in the back of the neck by a DUI suspect on Jan. 10, 1960, in Pittsylvania County.  Trooper Harmon was instantly and totally paralyzed by the shot, but survived for over 35 years with the loving care of his wife, Billie Anne, and family.

Trooper Daniel Lee Williams died December 12, 1999, from severe injuries and third degree burns over 90% of his body sustained in a single-vehicle crash on December 10, 1999, in Cumberland County. Trooper Williams was attempting to overtake a suspicious vehicle that had avoided a checking detail when Trooper William’s vehicle left the highway in a curve, struck a tree and caught fire.

We will be ever in their debt for the courage, devotion to duty and dedication to serving their fellow man that each of these men exhibited.  As inscribed on the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“It is not how these officers died that made them heroes. 
It is how they lived”

For additional information about the Virginia State Police,
click here to be taken to their main web site at: http://www.vsp.state.va.us/vsp1.html

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