Mayor Jones Announces Appointment of New Chief of Police

Mayor Dwight C. Jones issued the following statement regarding the appointment of Ray J. Tarasovic as Chief of Police:

“As of today, I have accepted the resignation of Bryan Norwood from his post as Chief of Police for the city of Richmond. I am very thankful for the more than four years of dedicated service he has offered to our city and for the leadership that he has brought to the Richmond Police Department. I know that in many ways, the Richmond Police Department and our city is better off because of his involvement, his dedication, and his concern and care for our communities. But we’ve reached a mutual agreement in that his time as Richmond’s Police Chief has come to an end.

“Today I am announcing the appointment of Ray J. Tarasovic as Police Chief. Effective tomorrow, this appointment places a new chief in charge who already knows our city; having previously served as Assistant Chief of Police in Richmond under former Chief Rodney Monroe. He has made Richmond his home since coming here to serve on the force in 2005. He is coming out of retirement to be in service to the City again.

“Chief Tarasovic will bring a degree of professional leadership and knowledge that we need to move forward as our city grows and as we work to meet the challenges ahead.

“He is a veteran officer who is highly qualified with a career in law enforcement spanning forty-one years. He possesses over 30 years of management and executive experience in the states of North Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Most recently he has been working in a consulting capacity with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Office of the State Secretary of Public Safety, Marla Decker.

“During the years that Ray was Assistant Chief of Police here in Richmond, we experienced a 34% reduction in major crime and a 43% reduction in homicides; and I’m really looking for some strict attention to be paid to our homicide rate. Presently, we’ve got some work to do where our crime statistics are concerned; certainly we want to keep trending in a positive direction in those areas where we are doing well, and we want to improve in those areas that may have done a little back sliding.

“I believe our community policing model has worked well over the last several years. This is a model that was first introduced to our city by former Police Chief Monroe; and we want to continue the good work being done with the faith community and with the young adult police commissioners -- both aspects of our community policing program – and others.

“Overall, I believe that with Ray joining our team, our public safety efforts will be strengthened and improved upon going forward. I also believe his leadership will bode well for the development of the talent that exists in the police department presently.”