Our department serves a diverse community of approximately 102,000 residents over a large geographic area that includes 32 miles of shoreline, numerous residential neighborhoods, an active port, significant industrial and technology resources, major retail and business centers, and several thousand acres of park land.

Crime
Richmond is a city of contrasts.  It’s no secret our community has struggled for decades with crime and other problems common to many urban areas.  Although much of the violence in Richmond is concentrated to relatively small sections of the city, its impact is felt city-wide, and residents in every neighborhood share a desire for a safer community.

On the positive side, progress is being made.  Richmond has over 35 active neighborhood associations as well as many other citizen groups and civic organizations.  People who live here care about their city and they are partnering up with the police department to reduce violence and fight crime.  As the city continues to grow, redevelopment of blighted areas is well underway, and new approaches are being taken to improve city services.

Finances
After going through a very challenging period of money shortfalls and cutbacks, Richmond’s financial footing has now significantly improved.  This is allowing the police department to hire new staff, improve our services, upgrade equipment, and increase the training of our personnel.  Although our staffing levels are not yet where we want them to be, our elected officials and residents are working with us to recruit new officers and increase the number of police employees available to address crime, safety, and quality of life concerns.

We recently “redeployed” our patrol personnel utilizing a “Neighborhood Beat Policing” model.  We divided Richmond into three larger geographic districts (North, Central, and South) that each has its own police captain.  Each district has three smaller beats that typically include several neighborhoods. Every patrol officer is assigned to a specific beat, no matter what shift they work.  Our goal is to build continuity of presence and the strongest possible relationships between officers and the public in every area of the city.

Priorities
My top priorities are to reduce crime and improve public safety in Richmond.  This means we have to focus on the big things like developing and sharing information about who’s committing crimes, getting guns off the streets, making it tougher to buy and sell drugs in our community, and working together more effectively at the neighborhood level.  It also means we have to deal more aggressively with environmental factors that allow crime to flourish.  This involves refocusing our efforts to crack down on illegal dumping and blight, timely graffiti abatement, prompt attention to all abandoned vehicles, and rigorously pursuing noise violations. 

We welcome and encourage your feedback and partnership.  The 221 sworn and civilian members of our agency are pleased to serve you and share our pride in the Richmond Police Department.

Chris Magnus
Chief of Police