New Police Chief for Richmond, Va

Jet, Feb 14, 2005

* NEW POLICE CHIEF FOR RICHMOND, VA: Newly appointed Richmond, VA, Police Chief Rodney David Monroe speaks at a news conference as Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder looks on. Monroe, 47, will oversee the department of 628 police officers. Monroe had been chief in Macon, GA, for 31/2 years, overseeing a department of 400.

He was on the police force in his native city of Washington, D.C., for 22 years and became an assistant chief. The capital city has been plagued by drug crime and has had nearly 100 murders a year recently. The latest "City Crime Rankings" placed Richmond 9th when compared with 354 other cities of more than 75,000 residents, according to the rankings' publisher, the research firm Morgan Quitno of Lawrence, KS.