THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605160166
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
It's OK for cops to be courteous, but the police chief doesn't want them to be too charming.
While polite police are the order of the day, ``chit chat'' and ``happy talk'' are forbidden - and that may not be sitting well with some folks.
Portsmouth citizens have come to the City Council complaining that some of the city's police officers are copping an attitude.
During Tuesday's council meeting, Police Chief Dennis Mook answered those allegations and explained police procedure to the council.
It seems that despite complaints to council, the number of complaints to the Police Department - written, verbal and anonymous - have declined over the last several years. In 1991 the department received 78 complaints about its officers, substantiated 18 of them and disciplined officers. Last year there were 55 complaints - 15 substantiated. The worst year was 1994, when the department got 86 complaints and substantiated 21 of them.
Complaints range from ``demeanor'' to ``harassment.'' Demeanor means police were rude or obnoxious to citizens. Harassment means they physically placed themselves in the path of citizens or otherwise prevented them from going ahead with legal activities. Most complaints are for courtesy or demeanor.
Mook said the police must be aggressive and assertive in fighting crime, but they are also told to treat citizens as they would like to be treated or as they would expect their family members to be treated.age 4
But Mook did have to offer a public apology for one recent incident affecting about 1,000 people - citizens and visitors.
Mook said that at the end of a street dance at Portside a week ago Thursday, a huge crowd lingered as the Portside merchants closed. Off-duty officers who had been hired for crowd control called the police and asked them to disburse the crowd rather than wait until people naturally drifted away.
An officer drove through the crowd shouting in a bullhorn for the crowd to disperse immediately. Merchants complained to the department about how citizens and visitors were treated - especially since Portsmouth is trying to draw people to downtown.
Mook told the council that police officials later realized they had made a mistake in the way the situation was handled.
``I do plan to apologize to the merchants,'' Mook said. ``But I don't really want to offer an apology in the newspaper.''
In other business Tuesday, the council approved transferring $100,000 to the city's jail, where overcrowding has caused the Sheriff's Department to spend its entire budget for the year.
City Manager Ronald W. Massie said the average population is about 70 inmates above what it was last year. The largest single expense for the extra inmates has been for medical care, which cost the jail an additional $65,000. The extra inmates also have caused the cost of food and laundry services to rise. by CNB