Finalists for Portsmouth police chief make their pitch to public on how they’d tackle job

The former chief of the Petersburg force.

A police captain from New Jersey.

Portsmouth’s current assistant chief.

Three finalists vying to become the city’s next police chief made their pitch to the public Thursday evening, explaining how they’d tackle the job.

There were four candidates, the city said this month — but only three participated in the public forum. The fourth person withdrew their candidacy because of a death in the family, said Barbara Hamm Lee, who moderated the event and is producer and host of the radio program “Another View.”

The finalists are John Dixon, who previously led the Petersburg police department; Renado Prince, assistant chief in Portsmouth; and Francisco Williams, a veteran of the Jersey City police force.

The roughly 100 people who showed to hear from the candidates were the first to learn who they were, since the city wouldn’t release their names them until the community forum.

Inside I.C. Norcom High School’s auditorium, the moderator asked the finalists questions submitted in advance by residents. The questions covered a range of topics, from youth violence and crime prevention to de-escalation and police interactions with the homeless and mentally ill.

All three candidates stressed the importance of police engaging with the community to rebuild trust.

The city chose the finalists from 22 applicants, and officials could announce a new chief within three weeks.

The new hire will start at a time when the department is understaffed and the community is demanding a plan to address gun violence. The city’s search also comes in the wake of three tumultuous years for the department.

In 2019, former Chief Tonya Chapman raised allegations of systemic racism with the department and said she was forced to resign after she tried to modernize Portsmouth’s police culture.

Angela Greene, who replaced Chapman from within the department, was fired last year, on the same day a judge dismissed controversial felony charges Portsmouth police filed against state Sen. Louise Lucas and 18 others stemming from a protest at the city’s Confederate monument. Greene has since sued the city and others, alleging wrongful termination and defamation.

Here’s a look at the candidates:

John Dixon

Dixon said he’s familiar with the issues and concerns of Portsmouth residents because the cities he comes from, Richmond and Petersburg, are similar.

Dixon has more than two decades of law enforcement experience and served as Petersburg’s police chief for about nine years.

He said community engagement is the most important thing in policing today. If he gets the job, Dixon said he’d want to build partnerships, including with businesses and the faith-based community.

Dixon said he favors creating youth academies so young people can see how policing works and bring their ideas and perspectives to the table: “We have to have our young people participate in what we do.”

To built trust with the community, Dixon said police need to create a system of transparency so people can see behind the ”thin blue line” and participate.

Dixon said there should be crisis response teams for mental health calls. He said it’s also important to ensure officers feel supported in seeking mental health treatment for themselves, if they need it.

Renado Prince

An Air Force veteran with 39 years in law enforcement, Prince was recruited by Chapman to join the department in 2018 and is the assistant chief.

When the pandemic began, Prince said, police officers lost some of the contact they regularly had with residents. Prince said he urged the department to keep virtual contact, and officers did — talking with civic leagues and faith leaders. Now, those in-person meetings are resuming.

Prince said building those relationships is key; the community must work together to combat violent crime.

“We have to start having those conversations again,” Prince said. “We have to reach out to our community. We need to engage and hear what you say. We want to meet you and we want to work with you and we want to make your neighborhoods better.”

To address youth violence, Prince said the department is partnering with various agencies and groups to build a program that will take a holistic approach. The program is designed to give kids better options, alternative job skills and could even help them find a place to live. It’s non-traditional, Prince said: “We don’t want anybody left behind.”

Before coming to Portsmouth, Prince worked for 22 years with the police force in Wilmington, North Carolina, and spent four years as police chief for an airport in Jackson, North Carolina.

Francisco Williams

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Williams has been with the Jersey City police force for over 26 years, but he has a tie to Portsmouth. In the early 1990s, he spent several years here while in the Coast Guard.

Williams said Portsmouth has a reputation for violent crime, but he wants to change that: “I want to make it the safest place to live.”

To combat gang violence, Williams said police and the community have to reach kids early. Creating youth programs is a way to do that, he said, and Williams has worked as director of a police athletic league, adding more sports and bringing in more kids to participate.

Williams said all officers must be community-focused. That engagement is part of the job, he said: “You have to do it.”

He said officers need to be trained in alternative responses so they’re prepared to work with people in mental health crisis, and police departments need to work with other agencies, such as social services.

“We can’t do it alone,” Williams said.

Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com