Norfolk Police Department

The Norfolk Police Department (NPD) is the primary law enforcement agency servicing 242,803 people within 96.3 square miles (249 km2) of jurisdiction within Norfolk, Virginia.

Norfolk Police Department
[[File:|border|140px|alt=Flag of the Norfolk Police Department (Bicentennial)|Flag of the Norfolk Police Department (Bicentennial)]]
Flag of the Norfolk Police Department (Bicentennial)
AbbreviationNPD
Agency overview
Formed1797
Employees885
Annual budget$63.6 million
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionNorfolk, Virginia, USA
Map of Norfolk Police Department's jurisdiction.
Size96.3 square miles (249 km2)
Population242,803
Governing bodyCity
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersNorfolk, Virginia
Police Officers757
Civilians128
Agency executive
Facilities
Stations3 Patrol Divisions
Website
Official Website

Homeland Security Division

The Homeland Security Division, comprising the Harbor Patrol Unit, Special Operations Team, and Bomb Squad, serves the department and citizens by maintaining a state of preparedness for emergency response to critical incidents, terrorism and other security threats.

  • Harbor Patrol Unit The Harbor Patrol Unit is responsible for ensuring safe flow of waterborne critical assets transiting the Norfolk Harbor. They also focus on recreational boating through the enforcement of state and city codes.
  • Special Operations Team The SOT is responsible for a rapid ready response to critical incidents outside the training and weapons capability of the patrol divisions such as hostage rescue, barricaded suspects, tubular assaults, active threats, high-risk arrest/search warrants, narcotics search warrants, vehicle take-downs, and maritime operations.
  • Bomb Squad The Bomb Squad is responsible for providing a rapid, technical response to calls for service involving real or suspected explosives and explosive devices; to provide additional resources to the Homeland Security Division; and to provide training and instruction to the NPD in the recognition of, and response to situations involving explosives.[1]

Administrative Services

Personnel Division

The Personnel Division is responsible for maintaining departmental personnel records, coordinating the department’s disability management program, overseeing police recruitment processes, and coordinating the Master Police Officer Program.

  • Training Unit The Training Unit is responsible for improving job performance and proficiency, the meeting or exceeding of the Department of Criminal Justice Service's (DCJS) training standards and requirements, improving the quality of training with organizational goals in mind and to ensure the department’s philosophy and mandates are clearly understood.
  • Citizens’ Police Academy and CPAAAN The Citizens' Police Academy is responsible for providing Norfolk residents information about the NPD and how it works. The Citizens’ Police Academy Alumni Association of Norfolk, CPAAAN, is offered to graduates of the Citizens' Police Academy, where members support law enforcement throughout Norfolk.[2]

Strategic Management Division

The Strategic Management Division formulates, evaluates, and monitors the policies, and procedures, that support the department in achieving its vision and mission. They are also responsible for managing the department’s directives system consisting of general orders.[3]

Central Records Division

The Central Records Division is responsible for a repository for criminal histories, correspondence, fingerprints, photographs, incident and accident reports, and all warrants.

  • Warrant Unit The Warrant Unit is responsible for processing felony and misdemeanor warrants, Circuit Court indictments, PB15 parole/probation violation papers, capiases, magistrate summonses, and other legal documents, issued by courts or magistrates.
  • Technology Support Unit The Technology Support Unit is responsible for the coordination of the security and administration of the Virginia Criminal Network, the police department record management system, LINx security and system administrators, and acts as the security liaison for the City Information Technology Department.[4]

Crime Prevention Unit

  • Neighborhood Watch
  • Business Watch
  • Civic Leagues
  • Security Surveys
  • Safer by Design
  • Environmental Crimes
  • Speaker’s Bureau
  • Special Programs
  • Police Athletic League
  • Police Explorers’ Post 191
  • Seniors Programs
  • Crime Prevention for the Hispanic Community[5]

Investigative Services

  • Detective Division The Detective Division is responsible for investigating felony and serious misdemeanor crimes occurring within Norfolk’s jurisdiction and to identify, arrest, and present offenders to the judicial system.
  • Vice and Narcotics Division The Vice and Narcotics Division is responsible for investigating cases involving narcotics activities throughout the City of Norfolk and consists of the Narcotics Unit and the Street Enforcement Unit.
  • COMPSTAT COMPSTAT stands for management accountability in policing through Computerized Statistics
  • Crime Analysis Unit The Crime Analysis Unit is responsible for supporting the operational elements and the administration of the Police Department by collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information on crime pattern detection, crime-suspect correlation, target profile analysis, and forecasting crime potential, trends, and patterns.

Field Operations

Norfolk is divided into 3 patrol divisions, each consisting of three sectors.

  • K-9 Unit The K-9 Unit is responsible for the augmenting operations of the three patrol divisions through a complement of dog teams on patrol.
  • Traffic Unit The Traffic Unit consists of motorcycles, marked, and unmarked patrol units. It also has control over the school crossing guards assigned to schools throughout the city.[6]

Rank structure

Sworn personnel

Training Primary Ranks Supervisory Command Staff
Grade12345678910
Insignia No Insignia No Insignia No Insignia
Title Recruit Officer Detective Police Training Officer I Master Police Officer Police Training Officer II Corporal PTO Corporal Sergeant PTO Sergeant Lieutenant Captain Assistant
Chief
Deputy
Chief
Chief
AbbreviationRCTOFCDETPTOMPOPTO IICPLSGTLTCPTACOPDCOPCOP

Non-sworn personnel

A number of uniformed civilian staff assist with the daily or periodic functions of the department. Operations Officers may perform desk functions, assist with the handling of evidence, traffic control, and various other administrative functions.[7] Chaplains are typically on call and may be paged out to incidents involving casualties, particularly of police personnel, or when their services may be otherwise warranted.[8]
Chaplain Corps Operations
Grade1234
Insignia 2 No Insignia
Title Chaplain Senior
Chaplain
Operations
Officer I
Operations
Officer II
AbbreviationCHPSCPOPSOPS II
2 The insignia are metal pins of the religious symbol of the religion the chaplain represents,
worn on the collar. The pins are silver for Chaplains and gold for the Senior Chaplain.[9]

Misconduct

As a matter of policy, the Department does not tell the public what if any disciplinary actions it takes against is officers.[10]

In early 2011, Detective Robert Glenn Ford was sentenced to more than twelve years in prison for taking bribes from criminals. Ford was the detective who questioned the Norfolk 4 who were unjustly imprisoned for twenty years for rape and murder.[11] The men's lawyers said they had been intimidated into confessing by the police.[12]

In January 2014, a woman was mauled by a Norfolk police dog, requiring forty-three stitches. The police chief admitted his officers used excessive force and the city settled for almost $200,000.[13] Four policemen left the department as a result of this attack but were never charged.[14]

On 7 May 2016, Officer Justin Benson was driving at more than seventy miles per hour on city streets when he struck a car, killing its driver. The officer was violating the Department's policy on the maximum speed to be used when responding to a call. He was not charged.[15][16]

In July 2016, the City agreed to pay one and a half million dollars to settle a lawsuit involving a drunk driver who was shot by a policeman. The City did not admit any legal responsibility in the settlement.[17]

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the Norfolk Police Department, 39 officers have died in the line of duty.[18]

Officer Date of Death Details
Officer John McNerney
Thursday, September 22, 1904
Gunfire
Officer Rufus A. Hobbs
Friday, July 23, 1909
Animal Related
Officer Stonewall J. Taylor
Tuesday, November 13, 1917
Struck by vehicle
Officer Ashville T. Williamson
Thursday, October 31, 1918
Gunfire
Officer Harvey J. Babb
Tuesday, October 21, 1919
Motorcycle accident
Officer Harry J. Charlton
Tuesday, August 24, 1920
Assault
Officer William L. Sherrod
Thursday, September 9, 1920
Struck by streetcar
Officer Edward J. Vellines
Wednesday, November 5, 1924
Gunfire
Officer Daniel A. Weisbrod
Thursday, December 6, 1928
Gunfire
Officer Joseph E. Johnson
Monday, August 11, 1930
Motorcycle accident
Officer Allen E. Lindsay
Tuesday, August 21, 1934
Motorcycle accident
Sergeant Benjamin H. Butts
Tuesday, January 1, 1935
Gunfire
Officer Jefferson R. Holland
Tuesday, August 17, 1937
Motorcycle accident
Officer John Franklin Harmann
Tuesday, March 29, 1938
Gunfire
Officer Arthur Herbert Barrett
Saturday, April 9, 1938
Heart Attack
Officer Michael Aloisio
Tuesday, May 23, 1939
Motorcycle Accident
Officer Frank A. Davis
Tuesday, July 13, 1943
Gunfire
Officer Robert F. Dunn
Tuesday, July 13, 1943
Gunfire
Chief of Police John Fulton Woods
Friday, October 4, 1946
Automobile Accident
Detective George W. Perkins
Thursday, December 12, 1946
Automobile Accident
Officer Daniel E. Hobbs
Sunday, April 27, 1952
Automobile Accident
Officer Carlton J. Byrd
Monday, August 25, 1952
Motorcycle accident
Officer William Warren Lassiter
Thursday, May 1, 1958
Struck by vehicle
Officer Louis E. Spry
Saturday, July 26, 1958
Vehicle Pursuit
Officer Robert C. Hill
Wednesday, December 9, 1959
Automobile accident
Officer Benjamin E. Myrick
Saturday, February 13, 1960
Motorcycle accident
Detective Robert Courtland Wash
Tuesday, May 16, 1961
Gunfire
Officer William Peterson
Saturday, March 17, 1962
Struck by vehicle
Sergeant Robert J. Bouchard
Friday, September 3, 1971
Gunfire
Officer Lewis Willard Hurst Jr.
Wednesday, May 24, 1972
Gunfire
Officer Stephen Samuel Douros
Saturday, June 21, 1980
Vehicular assault
Officer John C. Thomas III
Wednesday, April 4, 1984
Motorcycle accident
Officer Douglas Eric Drye
Saturday, April 14, 1984
Gunfire
Police Officer William Henry Burtt
Tuesday, February 3, 1998
Gunfire
Police Officer James B. Gilbert
Friday, September 28, 2001
Gunfire
Police Officer Sheila Herring
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Gunfire
Police Officer Stanley Cornell Reaves
Friday, October 28, 2005
Gunfire
Police Officer Seneca Bailey Darden
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Gunfire (accidental)
Police Officer Brian Jones
Friday, May 30, 2014
Gunfire

See also

References

  1. Norfolk Police Department - Homeland Security Division
  2. Norfolk Police Department - Personnel Division
  3. Norfolk Police Department - Strategic Management
  4. Norfolk Police Department - Central Records
  5. Norfolk Police Department - Crime Prevention Unit
  6. Norfolk Police Department - Patrol
  7. "Job Classification, Operations Officer II".
  8. "Norfolk Police Department 2010 Annual Report".
  9. http://www.norfolk.gov/Archive/ViewFile/Item/65
  10. Edwards, Jonathan (19 September 2016). "Norfolk police to change policy, release partial results of internal affairs investigations". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  11. McGlone, Tim (26 February 2011). "Ex-Norfolk detective gets 12 1/2 years for corruption". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  12. "20 Years After Being Bullied Into Confessing, "Norfolk 4" Are Pardoned". New York Times. Associated Press. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  13. Green, Kevin (18 April 2016). "Norfolk, NSU student reach $200K settlement in K-9 attack case". WAVY-TV. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  14. Mechanic, Allison; Taylor, Doris. "Four Norfolk officers out of jobs following investigation into K9 attack on NSU student" (8 April 2016). WKTR. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  15. Hartley, Eric (22 July 2016). ""It was negligence on our part": Norfolk police officer was driving 96 mph before deadly crash, councilman says". Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  16. Edwards, Jonathan (6 January 2017). "Norfolk officer who hit, killed 79-year-old on his way to crime scene won't be charged, prosecutor says". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  17. Edwards, Jonathan (21 July 2016). "Ex-sailor shot by Norfolk police settles for $1.5 million in lawsuit against city". Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  18. Officer Down Memorial page
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