Virginia Hires New Police Chief

By Benjamin Cox on October 14, 2022 at 10:08am

The City of Virginia has hired a new chief of police.

Virginia has been without a police chief since April when Mayor Randy McClure terminated Daniel W. Smith.

The city has hired Eric Shumate, former Chief of Police in Thomasboro, a small town in northern Champaign County. Shumate will be the city’s four chief of police since 2019.

According to the Champaign News-Gazette, Shumate was terminated without cause by the Thomasboro Village Board of Trustees in June. Thomasboro Village President Tyler Evans told the News-Gazette he disagreed with the vote of termination and said Shumate had done nothing wrong.

According to a LinkedIN profile for Shumate, he was employed as Police Chief in Thomasboro for a little over 2 years. Prior to that, he served as an agent for Bill Clutter Investigations doing business as Courthouse Courier in Vermillion & Champaign counties for just under 5 years. He previously served as a Champaign County Sheriff’s Deputy from 1989 to 2014.

The Cass County Star Gazette says that Shumate’s employment will begin once he relocates to the City of Virginia.