Located less than 10 miles from the Norfolk Naval Station, home to the U.S. Navy’s Atlantic fleet, the Norfolk (Virginia) Police Department (NPD) serves a varied area including seven miles of waterfront, a vibrant downtown community, and several residential areas whose communities include Navy personnel and tourists as well as civilians.

“We have very good relations with all of these groups,” said Sergeant William D. Pickering, Jr., the NPD’s Public Information Officer. “Our dedication to the people of Norfolk is unwavering, and we’re committed toward building these relationships with everybody in the community so we can improve our services together.”

This dedication was personified on the night of May 17, 2021, by NPD Patrol Officer Jordan Marksbury, who was called to the scene of a single-car accident. While sirens blared and firefighters provided medical treatment to the driver, a woman who had suffered a seizure, Marksbury comforted the driver’s daughter, wrapping her arms around the child and assuring her that her mother would be okay.

Personally interacting with a small child is nothing unusual in this agency, which boasts 25 community engagement programs, all of which are hands-on and many of which are focused on young people. Among them are a literacy program in which officers and other NPD staff members serve as mentors and tutors at Norfolk public elementary schools, a “chess for success” program that also engages officers with local kids, and a COPsicle truck that gives out free ice cream.

Officers also meet up with young men from the area in an ongoing barbershop conversation group, and a similar program, Cops and Curls, brings officers together with girls ages 6 to 13 for a fun night of dancing, food, and positive interaction.

First prize in the “Lip Sync to the Rescue” video contest

Probably the most creative of the NPD’s community engagement efforts was their Funky Lip Sync video, which featured Norfolk’s finest singing and dancing with firefighters, dispatchers, and support staff to Bruno Mars’s hit “Uptown Funk.”

Recorded with an iPhone in a one-take shot, the video, which has been viewed more than 100 million times and shared more than 1.5 million times on Facebook, won first place in the CBS TV special “Lip Sync to the Rescue” contest in 2019. The grand prize, $100,000, was donated to the Norfolk Police Foundation to improve services to the citizens and support the NPD’s engagement programs.

The video, which began as a fun way for police and first responders to engage with people in the Norfolk community, is just one of the activities that have helped develop strong relationships in the city and surrounding area.

Pictured: NPD officers and staff film their Funky Lip Sync video in 2018

Citizens see and speak with officers on NPD Live

A strong advocate of community policing, NPD Chief Larry D. Boone maintains that it is essential that officers assume highly visible proactive roles within these communities. The most important interaction they have with the public is the agency’s response to calls for service, and the highly infectious COVID-19 virus presented challenges to that. But like the U.S. Navy’s first Admiral, David Farragut, who famously said “Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead” when confronted in battle, Boone faced the challenge of the deadly COVID pandemic head on with a creative workaround.

To keep staff members safe and healthy while continuing to provide a high level of service, the NPD launched the Telephone Reporting Unit (TRU) in March 2020, enabling sworn officers to take reports over the telephone. By year’s end, the TRU had already handled 8,262 calls for service.

Inspired by this success, Chief Boone then tasked the department’s Technology Support Unit with developing a platform that would allow officers and community members to interact digitally. In October 2020, NPD Live, the first virtual law enforcement response program in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, was launched.

Designed to reduce employee and community exposures to COVID-19, NPD Live continues today, offering community members the opportunity to see and speak with an officer in nonemergency situations while also allowing officers on the street to be available for emergencies.

Another program that supports community interaction is WE are ONE, NPD and YOU, a broadcast partnership with a local radio station. Twice a month, officers take phone calls from listeners, answering questions about crime prevention, recent incidents involving police, and other topics. The department also has a Hispanic Community Liaison Officer who participates in on-air engagement with local Spanish language radio stations.

A forward-looking department with a long history of inclusiveness

Though it is one of the oldest police departments in the country, established in 1797 and steeped in history, the NPD is an innovative department that continues to be forward thinking in serving its diverse community.

NPD members pride themselves on an atmosphere that encourages and supports not only creativity and innovation but inclusiveness as well—a guiding principle of the agency since 1945, when it hired the first two Black police officers in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, there are 117 Black officers among the NPD’s 582 sworn members. In support of gender as well as racial diversity, NPD counts 62 women among its officers, including seven African American women who have advanced through the ranks.

Among them is Assistant Chief Michele Naughton-Epps, who was promoted to her position in the Executive Staff overseeing Field Operations in 2021. Said Naughton-Epps, “It’s a collective accomplishment, accomplished with the support and guidance of everyone around me—my co-workers, our leadership, and my relationships in the community too. So many people helped me.”

A congenial work environment and fun on the job

“You have to have somebody to guide and coach you; without that you don’t succeed,” said Assistant Chief Naughton-Epps. “This is an extremely supportive department, and I have to credit my success to that. Our chief is a transformational leader. He leads by example and gives you opportunities to grow. Our department is like a family. We always want our agency to be better, so we want the people to be better, all of them. It’s not about any one person; it’s about all of us.”

Looking back on her 21 years in the NPD, Assistant Chief Naughton-Epps said, “I started out on patrol, then moved to vice and narcotics investigator. I even did undercover work and was a field training instructor too. I enjoyed all those jobs. But I found my niche in my assignment to the Norfolk Redevelopment & Housing Authority, where I got immersed in the community, and loved interacting with the families and kids. Now, I’m Commander of Field Operations, and still enjoying my work. You have to have some fun in what you’re doing—and my work is still fun.”

Added Sergeant Will Pickering, “The lip sync video reflects the teamwork that’s typical of our department. It gives you a glimpse into our department; the magic is right there. You can see us come together in a project and have fun.”

Faye C. Elkins
Sr. Technical Writer
COPS Office

Photos courtesy of the Norfolk (VA) Police Department.

Tweet