STATE POLICE TO HELP CITY FIGHT CRIME

Details Still Being Worked Out, But Troopers Will Focus On Arrests For
Guns, Drugs

Richmond is reaching out for help from the Virginia State Police as the
city's homicide rate continues to climb.

"We're being asked to come on board because of the homicide frequency at
this particular time," said Col. W. Steven Flaherty, state police
superintendent. "We're here to help curb violent crime in Richmond. This is
another tool that the city wants to use."

City Council members heard the news during a closed-door meeting on Monday.

Richmond Police Chief Andre Parker approached Flaherty last Friday about
getting some assistance. The details have not been hammered out, Flaherty
said, but the troopers he will provide will come from the department's
Counter-terrorism and Criminal Interdiction Unit.

The troopers will focus on arrests for guns and drugs but will not
participate in investigations, Flaherty added. He would not say how many
will be sent to patrol Richmond.

"That would be a tactical error," he said.

State police stepped in once before, during Richmond's most violent years -
from 1992 through 1994. In 1994, when the city racked up 160 slayings, 13
state troopers and 13 Henrico County officers joined city police for
Operation Full Alert.

Lt. Col. Teresa P. Gooch, assistant chief of police, said this partnership
with state police will look similar to this summer's Operation Stopshot.
She is standing in for Parker, who is out of town.

That partnership, which featured 10 state troopers and a supervising
sergeant from the state police working with city police, netted 161
illegally used or possessed firearms, 243 felony arrests and 369
misdemeanor arrests. In addition, 265 warrants were executed, 39 stolen
cars were recovered and 440 grams of crack cocaine and five pounds of
marijuana were seized.

This time around, the troopers will provide a "very visible presence - the
kind of thing we've done very successfully in the past," Gooch said.

Also at Monday's closed meeting, the City Council posed some "pointed
questions" to City Manager Calvin D. Jamison about how effectively he is
handling Richmond's violent-crime problem, council members said. Jamison is
hired by the council, and Jamison hired Parker.

Last weekend, the city experienced 12 shootings, two of which were fatal.
The city's homicide tally is at 83, compared with 59 at this time last year.

The council asked Jamison to report back next week with a short-term plan
to target violent crime in the city.

Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney David M. Hicks was not involved in the
closed council meeting.

"Drumming up numbers and looking busy isn't a plan," he said. "What the
manager should be doing, which he hasn't done, is encouraging some kind of
dialogue and planning between all the law-enforcement players. Something is
definitely very, very wrong with the priorities of the city administration."

Councilman G. Manoli Loupassi said the city needs leadership help fast.

"We've asked for a serious crackdown. Our ability to catch the people who
are shooting each other is directly related to how the police are policing
and how the police department is being run," he said. "We have to let the
criminals know that we are most assuredly going to bring down the hammer
and lock them up."

The short-term plan will cost money, he said, and the council is willing to
pay.

"The message we have for [Jamison and police leaders] is, 'Tell us what
needs to be done and tell us what you need from us to get it done,'"
Loupassi said.

Mayor Rudolph C. McCollum Jr. said the city is looking at all options to
combat violent crime.

"Anything is on the table," he said, adding about the results of Monday's
meeting: "There was no definitive strategy put forward as to how to get it
done. We have talked about some different things that have been done in the
past. The job for the manager is to bring forth a response."

Jamison said he will present the details of his plan on Monday and that
they will include a greater police presence and a stronger relationship
between schools and the city administration.

"We will turn this around," he said. "Not only will we turn the crime rate
around, but we're going to sustain it when we do."

To close Monday's meeting, which ran about 21/2 hours, the council cited an
exemption in Virginia's Freedom of Information Act that allows public
bodies to discuss the performance of its appointees in private. The
Times-Dispatch objected to the closed session.