HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Henrico Police Chief Eric English sought to clarify the role Henrico Police play in the community one day after hearing from county residents about changes to the way police planned to respond to certain calls that included marijuana and shoplifting.
"We are going to be responding to any unlawful action in Henrico County. So if people feel like they can come in Henrico County and do what they want to do, that is not the case," he said. "It's never going to be the case."
The chief met with the media on Tuesday to dispel any "misinformation" that may exist in the community following a video Henrico Police posted on social media. That video explained Henrico Police would no longer send patrol officers to certain calls for service. He apologized Tuesday for the rollout of the department's changes to how they respond to certain calls for service.
According to the video, police would no longer send officers to respond to calls that may be more minor, including noise complaints that do not violate county code, shoplifting cases where charges are not being filed, or medical calls where first responders who have already arrived at the scene do not need assistance from police.
"We acknowledge that the messaging could have been done a lot better," he said. "That was the issue. We feel like there was not a lot of clarity in terms of what was put out."
WATCH: Chief English says why he thinks these changes are needed in Henrico
Essentially, police said when calls come into dispatch, the call would be assessed and certain calls that might once require a patrol officer's response would now be reassigned to another department.
"We have people that call us [and say] my nine-year-old won't go to school today. That's not something you want the police to be there for," Chief English said. "We don't want to be the authoritarian figure that shows up and tries to scare your kid to go to school. That's not what we're there for."
One of the misconceptions following the initial police rollout was the officers would no longer investigate shoplifting.
"We're always going to address violent crime and unlawful activity... we're always going to respond to shoplifting," he said. "If you have a shoplifting that's in progress, of course, we're going to respond. [You have] video, of course, we're going to respond. The message we want to get out is that there are businesses that sometimes don't want to prosecute anyone. They just want a report because it may be their policy, it may be for insurance purposes, and all they want is just a report. We can take the report over the phone. You're still going to get the same report that you would have gotten if an officer was there right in front of you. It's no different. We've been taking reports over the phone for over 40 years in Henrico County. So it's not something that's new."
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Another concern raised following Monday's announcement was that police would no longer respond to noise complaints. Some neighbors feared a lack of response to noise complaints — like a loud party — could lead to violent encounters.
"A loud party call will fall under our noise ordinance. That's much different than a kid running through the hallway at an apartment complex. Those are two different things," he said. "We're going to respond to crime. A loud party that violates the noise ordinance is a crime. We're going to be there."
Other complaints that Henrico Police will no longer be responding to include reports about abandoned vehicles.
That will be handled by the county's Community Policing Unit, a unit of 16 individuals spread throughout the county to deal with "nuisance issues," and help build community connections with police.
"If you talk with many residents who have a Community Policing Officer, they know that officer by name," English said.
English said though minor calls don't take up a large percentage of their total call volume, the changes could eliminate about 5,000 calls for service that would require an officer to respond on-scene.
"When you talk about going to a call such as [a child not going to school] the officer may spend 20 to 30 minutes talking to your kid, when they could’ve been addressing that traffic incident or that speeding complaint that’s been coming in or that drug complaint that’s been coming in," he said. "Those are the things we’re trying to get our public to understand. That’s going to make us much safer than us responding to those types of calls."
English said this will also lead to more visibility, as patrol officers will have more time to travel through different communities.
“Visibility deters crime. And so, the more officers you have in the community, the less likely there is for something to happen," English said.
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