Norfolk Police Department

Norfolk Police Department
Flag of the Norfolk Police Department (Bicentennial)
Abbreviation	NPD
Agency overview
Formed	1797
Employees	885
Annual budget	$63.6 million
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Map of Norfolk Police Department's jurisdiction.
Size	96.3 square miles (249 km2)
Population	242,803
Governing body	City
General nature	• Local civilian agency
Headquarters	Norfolk, Virginia
Police Officers	757
Civilians	128
Agency executive	Larry D. Boone, Chief of Police
Facilities
Stations	3 Patrol Divisions
Website
Official Website

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.

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

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
Grade	1	2			3		4		5		6	7	8	9	10
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
Abbreviation	RCT	OFC	DET	PTO	MPO	PTO II	CPL		SGT		LT	CPT	ACOP	DCOP	COP
Badge	No Badge

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
Grade	1	2	3	4
Insignia	2		No Insignia
Title	Chaplain	Senior Chaplain	Operations Officer I	Operations Officer II
Abbreviation	CHP	SCP	OPS	OPS II
Badge
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]

See also

• List of law enforcement agencies in Virginia

References

External links

• Official website
• Norfolk Sheriff's Office
• Norfolk government