Show All Answers

1. Question One:

Norfolk Police Department is committed to a partnership with the Center for Policing Equity and is using data driven intervention strategies and redesigning public safety systems to foster improved relations between the Department and the various constituencies within Norfolk. If you have worked with the Center in your career or have experience in implementing these strategies, provide a brief summary of the program, your role in the effort, and your evaluation of the outcome. If you have your own ideas for practical improvements in developing such efforts, set them out in your response.

Candidate A Answer:

I have not worked with the Center for Policing Equity but I have been using data driven information as part of my crime fighting strategies for a number of years.

In taking over as the police chief of [Redacted],[-] ,one of my first issues was getting control of violent crime within the city. After meeting with city officials, concerned citizens, state & local law enforcement and members of the court system it was we were all onboard to tackle this issue.

In meeting with the DA's Office and State and Federal Law Enforcement comprehensive strategy was formed. It was imperative that we worked closely with citizens and other community groups. It was a difficult task in the beginning due to lack of faith in the police department due to past bad police behavior within the community. However, I was able to get past that distrust being not from that area and being openly honest about what was needed from the community.

One of the things that we did was to identify the constant players and groups involved with the ongoing violence in the community and what factors surrounded that violence. We quickly learned from multiple present and past incident reports that a certain number of individuals were constantly suspects and or accomplices in most violent crimes within the city area. Further information linked those suspects to a particular city run by a resident within the city. Much of the street information came through concerned citizens that wanted to clean up their city. We never asked any of these citizens to appear in court or have them listed on any type of warrant.

Recognizing the dangers of local citizens getting involved with a dangerous violent [-] gang was out of the question in our formula to bring them down. In working with the US Marshalls, they brought in individuals that did [-] interactions with the gang. All actions were recorded through video and/or audio. Another part of this operation was to make sure that shooting suspects bonds were greatly increased [-] to as much 1 million dollars. As the community quickly realized that the suspects could no longer just get out of jail within 24 hours, they were more encouraged to provide needed information.

In [-], the [-] Police Department's Drug Unit completed the multi-agency Drug/Violent criminal enterprise investigation. The event targeted drug operations and the suspects involved in violent crimes within the community. The criminal round up involved over 120 federal, state and local law enforcement personnel. The operation resulted in numerous arrests for state and federal charges. The operation was one of the largest of its kind in [-]. For the years of [-] and [-], [-] had a 31% drop in overall crime. Most of the information used to identify many of the suspects was gleaned from criminal incident reports and concerned citizens. 

Without community involvement and the trust of the citizens there could be no successful operation. The operation not only helped rid the community of bad violent actors but it also acted as a vehicle for the police department to regain the confidence of the community. Because prior to my arrival the police department was in a freefall and hated by the community for past and recent abuses.

Note: A similar operation was successfully completed in [-]. 

 

2. Question Two:

The Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) seeks to prevent and reduce violent crime in communities by supporting comprehensive, evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs based on partnerships among community residents, local government agencies, victim service providers, community-based organizations, law enforcement, hospitals, researchers, and other community stakeholders. City leaders are interested in your experience in working with this initiative or initiatives with similar expectations or outcomes, specifically including your experience in urban communities if applicable. Please include your evaluation of the success of those programs and your ideas regarding improving them.

Candidate A Answer: 

I have not worked with The Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIP) but over the years I have worked with numerous community agencies to prevent and reduce violent crimes in the community. I recognized early on that violent crime can numerous contributing factors such as substance abuse, mental health, physical health, economics, the inability to re-integrate back into society and a host of other factors. The following are groups that I was part of and partnered with to help not only help reduce violent crime but also help heal communities:

[Redacted] Mental Health [-], which is now [-] Health [-] where I served as the board [-]. I am the Chairperson for the Committee and I also sit on the [-]. [-] manages and provides integrated mental health and Substance abuse treatment for the [-] operates with a budget of approximately $[-],000,000. While working with [-] I had my officers trained in (CIT) Critical Incident Training as it pretained to dealing with the mentally ill and substance abuse. It is well known that over 50% of individuals housed in our jails suffer from mental illness and substance abuse addition if not both. We recognize that these issues in numerous situations are contributing factors in violent crime behavior. Our department even started a [-] program partnership with [-] to assist our agency with psychiatric emergencies within the city of [-].The program allows [-] Police to contact the [-] hotline when officers respond to those types of calls. A Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) of [-] can be dispatched to access the situation The MCT then could triage the needs of the patient who are experiencing a "behavioral health crisis" and make appropriate assessment. This program is geared to solving the person's issues though treatment instead of incarceration. After starting the program was saw a reduction in calls for service to certain addresses by up 30%.

[-], I am a board member for the organization [-]. [-] is a long- term program setup in several [-] prisons that engage in a long-term training program. This program, which consists of mediation and conflict resolution, is taught to inmates. Participants in the program become trainers to the other inmates. This program helps prepare inmates for the day they are released. The skills that they learn greatly help them readjust to outside life. Through [-] released inmates are welcomed back into society, given [-], temporary housing and additional training and support. The prisons that offer [-] see significant drops in violent incidents among inmates. It is highly important to re-integrate our brothers and sisters returning back to society from incarceration. We want to make sure that they are given the best possible chance to succeed and not be drawn back to a life of crime.

A few other areas programs and partnerships I was involved were:

The [-], I am a [-] for The [-] which focuses on the intersections of criminal justice transformation and poverty. I lent my voice, profession and experiences to bring awareness to this issue. Poverty plays a role in many elements of crime and must not be overlooked.

Policing [-]: a [-] series [-] that will focus on Police Transformation, Criminal Justice Reform and Poverty,

Member, [-] Council, I am an appointed council member by the Governor [-]. The work of the [-] Council was very important. It tackled the issue of sentencing and how fines were distributed which resulted in changes made to the fine structure [-]. Most people do not have any idea how burdensome fines can be especially if you are just being released from prison without a job or a very low paying job.

3. Question Three:

The Norfolk Police Department is building its future upon the following 5 Guiding Principles: Officer Wellness, being Operationally Sound, creating a Learning Organization, understanding the Strength in Diversity, and building Principle Centered Leadership.  As a professional and public servant, how do you identify with these principles and how as the Chief would you continue to emphasize them in the Department?

Candidate A Answer: 

I support those principles.

Officer Wellness covers several areas. These areas are the beginnings of the decision-making process of officers which will influence their career and how they relate to the public. Influences such as:

Physical Health are fit or over weight, this can have an affect on how they deal with suspects and physical confrontation. A physically fit, maybe more inclined to trust their physical attributes and not resort to a baton to bring a suspect under control. While someone overweight may not make any attempt to engage in a foot pursuit per say.

Operationally Sound, it is extremely important for the organization to be operationally sound. The organization must function to have any chance of success. Everyone must understand the mission and the means to accomplish the mission. You must have the right people in the right places to move an organization forward and be successful. This success also means working with other city agencies to solve problems, to include the city government. It is imperative that the chief executive have the means to put the right people in places to move the organization forward and sometimes to reach Operational Sound there may be a need to bring in outside talent for different areas to achieve the set goals.

Creating a Learning Organization, having an organization that is open to new ideas and forward thinking is a must for a progressive agency. You want to make sure that people inside the organization clearly understand that they are expected to be forward thinkers. They are to be problem solvers not whinners with no solutions. These are the attributes that your recruiters should be looking for in applicants.

Understanding Strength in Diversity, this is truly important for an organization to understand. For the community to effectively embrace the police department they must feel like they have a stake in the department. When they see officers that look like them, there is more of a comfort level where information can flow much more freely. Officers that look like the community usually relate better to the community. They have a better understanding of why people in the community have a fear about identifying violent criminals that operate and live within the community. Not only is it important to see officers that look like the community, there must be supervisors and top police executives also that look like the community.

Building Principle Centered Leadership is important as well. Leadership in the organization must have moral base. They must be seen as being trustworthy by the community. They do not have to be perfect, but the community must trust that they will handle issues and be transparent about it. It must be a top­ down approach and those found not to be working up to this standard must go. City government must have in place mechanisms to move out those that are not fully honest and trustworthy. If you as a person cannot be trusted or believed internally then how do, we ask the public to trust that person.

As chief I would continue to embrace the ideas and work closely with the community and city government to enhance the areas.

4. Question Four:

Recruitment, selection, and retention of competent and successful law enforcement officers is critical for a community to thrive and for citizens to feel safe in their City.  Further, an inclusive and diverse police department that reflects the community leads to increased trust, cooperation, and transparency. As a candidate for Norfolk Police Chief, what experience would you bring in successful recruitment, selection, and retention of police officers and what ideas would you have to build on that experience to create a successful program in Norfolk since City leaders are very interested in creative initiatives to attract qualified candidates and ensure their longevity in the Department.

Candidate A Answer: 

During tenure at the [Redacted] Police Department I served at the Training & Recruiting [-]. My staff and I were given a task to increase minority recruits to the organization. During our first year were able to increase the number by 5% percent. However, there was interruption to my assignment due to [-]events. During my time managing recruiting we embarked on the following:

Recruiting at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in different states Recruiting at women colleges/universities in different states

Recruiting and different military exit programs Recruiting at high schools

Community recruiting (reaching out to the community for applicants) Attending recruiting fairs

I had individual officers recruiting 

My sergeant and I personally recruited Holding recruiting fairs

TV and radio recruiting interviews Recruiting from the auxiliary police ranks

These are recruiting options that I utilized in [-] 

As police chief I personally lead the charge in recruiting [-]. I utilized the changing of the guard as a means to get individuals interested into joining those organizations. I represented change and a different look and vibe that some new recruits looked for in policing. As I interview some of the new recruits most let me know that they had googled and researched me. They advised that they were looking for a change agent and agency.

In the city of [-], I partnered with local faith-based organizations and businesses to establish [-] that allowed the organizations to send mostly minority officers to the police academy. The officers signed agreements to stay at the organization a certain number of years [-]. Through this effort I was able to increase the number of black officers within the organization.

In the city of [-], I worked with the city government to change the promotion policy and introduced numerous paid stipends within the police department. These stipends paid extra [-] a year for the following:

K-9 Officer 

Motor Officer 

Detective 

Crime Scene 

Bike Officer

Community Officer 

School Liaison Officer

I also changed the policy where you could test to be a sergeant and/or detective at 2 years on the department. This was attractive to young people because they wanted to go up the ladder and have an opportunity to be involved with different assignments within the police department. Plus the extra assignment pay increased their salary. We put all these changes in our recruiting brochure, and it was effective.

As the chief I will take hard review of the present recruiting and retention program of the organization. One program I would definitely take a look at is where I read that a police department is holding a police academy at a local HBCU. I love this idea. This is great opportunity to make law enforcement part of a college/university curriculum and enroll candidates just as the military.