DATE: Tuesday, May 6, 1997                  TAG: 9705060234

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   48 lines

THIS WEEK, PORTSMOUTH POLICE CHIEF COULD BE NEWPORT NEWS' CHOICE

Police Chief Dennis Mook is one of four finalists being considered for the top police job in Newport News.

Peninsula officials are expected to announce their decision this week, wrapping up a six-month search for a new chief.

If Mook is chosen, he would head the state's fourth-largest city police department. Newport News has 342 sworn officers and 125 civilians, and it serves a population of 180,000.

Mook, 45, who has been Portsmouth's police chief since April 1994, was chosen by a search committee that interviewed applicants and made recommendations to Newport News City Manager Ed Maroney, according to The Daily Press.

Maroney declined to comment on the search process.

Mook, who also declined to comment, is credited with implementing community policing and Portsmouth's first crime summit. Mook, in conjunction with the commonwealth's attorney, began work with a federal task force and announced several new crime-fighting initiatives. Last year, the violent crime rate in the city dropped 29 percent.

``I think Dennis has been a very positive police chief,'' said Portsmouth spokesman Ken Wheeler. ``Dennis is a very attractive kind of a person in the marketplace for police chiefs nationally.

``He did let the city manager know that he had put his hat in the running,'' Wheeler said.

Many of Mook's law-enforcement programs have been recognized nationwide, Wheeler said. The National League of Cities lauded Portsmouth's community policing program, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors gave the city a livability award.

``When you start getting that kind of national recognition, people start looking around,'' Wheeler said. ``He is a young man, and I have no question he has a bright future.''

The move would be a step up for Mook, who leads a department of about 240 sworn officers in a city of 101,900. His salary is about $68,500. If he gets the Newport News job, he could make up to $90,270.

Mook joined the Portsmouth Police Department in 1974. He would replace Newport News' interim police chief, Billy Payne. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Portsmouth

Police Chief Dennis Mook is known for starting community policing

projects and a crime summit.

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