Privacy protected information closed for 100 years after
date record created. Types of records restricted include,
but are not limited to: Prisoner medical records, juvenile
criminal records, Commonwealth of Virginia employment
applications, job interview notes, employee performance
reviews, and employee grievance materials that were sent to
the Secretary of Public Safety and are part of the
constituent correspondence series. Privacy protected
material has been sealed but has not been removed from the
collection.
Use Restrictions
Privacy protected information closed for 100 years after
date record created.
Preferred Citation
Virginia. Secretary of Public Safety. Correspondence and
subject files, [cite specific date and accession used].
State Records Collection, The Library of Virginia,
Richmond, Virginia.
Acquisition Information
Transferred from the Office of the Secretary of Public
Safety by Kevin Massengill and D.M. Taylor, 11 January
2002.
In 1970, the Governor's Management Commission Study
recommended the creation of six "Deputy Governors" to assist
the Chief Executive in his managerial duties. Compatible
functions of government were grouped under these
administrative heads, who would serve as the Governors top
management team or "secretariats," as they were called now.
Governor Linwood Holton's top priority for the 1972 session of
the General Assembly was a proposal for a Governor's Cabinet,
reorganizing state agencies into six major departments--each
headed by a secretary appointed by the governor.
Transportation and public safety was one of these six
departments. The office of Secretary of Transportation and
Public Safety was created on April 8, 1972, by an act passed
by the General Assembly. Governor Holton appointed Wayne A.
Whitham, a member of the Winchester City Council, as the first
Secretary of Transportation and Public Safety.
When Whitman took office on July 1, 1972, he was
responsible for the State Highway Commission, Division of
Motor Vehicles, Department of State Police, Highway Safety
Division, Office of Emergency Services, Department of Military
Affairs, Virginia State Crime Commission, and the Law
Enforcement Officers Training Standards Commission.
The Office has undergone a series of administrative
reorganizations since 1972. On April 12, 1976, the Legislature
established separate secretariats for transportation and for
public safety, effective July 1, 1976. On July 1, 1984, the
offices were again compined. Most recently, the Secretary of
Transporation and Public Safety was divided into seperate
secretariats on February 22, 1990. The Secretary of Public
Safety is a member of the Governor's Cabinet, and is appointed
by the governor, subject to confirmation by the General
Assembly.
Currently the Secretary of Public Safety is responsible for
the direction or jurisdiction over the following state
agencies and boards: Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Board,
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Department of
Correctional Education, Department of Corrections, Department
of Criminal Justice Services, Department of Emergency
Services, Virginia Department of Fire Programs, Department of
Juvenile Justice, Department of Military Affairs, Virginia
Parole Board, and the Department of State Police.
In December 1997 Governor-elect James S. Gilmore III named
Gary K. Aronhalt as Secretary of Public Safety. Aronhalt was
Gilmore's chief assistant when Gilmore was Henrico County
Commonwealth's Attorney and Virginia Attorney General.
Aronhalt served until the end of the Gilmore administration in
January 2002.
The records of the Secretary of Public Safety consist of
constituent correspondence to the Governro referred to the
secretary for response and correspondence arranged by
department and subject files. Constituent correspondence are
arranged by tracking numbers assigned by the Governor's office
and date received. Subjects included are law enforcement
issues, Virginia State Police, ABC stores, gun control,
capital punishment, drunk driving, parole, Virginia National
Guard, pay raises for law enforcement officers, 9/11 terrorist
attacks, and Virginia's juvenile detention system. A
significant number of correspondence consist of letters from
family and friends of Virginia prison inmates appealing to the
Governor to intervene in their case. Gary K. Aronhalt,
Secretary of Public Safety, wrote responses to nearly all of
these letters.
Additional correspondence are arranged by department, by
date and subject. Notable documents filed with each department
include memos from Aronhalt to each agency head, dated May
1999, reviewing each department's strategic plan.
Correspondence filed under the Department of Military Affairs
and chronologically (see 14 December 2000) describe the racial
discrimination complaints made by African-American members of
the Virginia National Guard.
Notable topics include terrorism, COPS (Community Oriented
Policing Services), New Partnership Commission, SABRE Project
(Substance Abuse Reduction Effort), and Virginia Exile.
Notable documents concerning terrorism include: a memo from
Gary K. Aronhalt to Mark Miner, Press Secretary to Governor
Gilmore, dated 15 June 2000, recommending a fifteen point
strategy on ways to increase Gilmore's national exposure and
name-association with terrorism preparedness policy; summary
of the 28 September 2001 meeting of the Virginia Preparedness
and Security Panel and the Panel's report to the Governor,
dated 30 November 2001. Notable documents concerning Virginia
Exile include: bi-weekly reports on the status of Virginia
Exile written by Mike Costigan of the Virginia Department of
Criminal Justice Services to Aronhalt between August 1999 and
August 2000 and Project Exile grant applications for Fiscal
Year 2000 for Halifax County, Chesapeake, Lynchburg,
Petersburg, Richmond, and Roanoke.