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Officer cleared in Family Dollar shooting
The Richmond commonwealth’s attorney’s office has sent a “letter of declination” to the police department indicating that it found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by officer Chester Roberts, who wounded armed suspect James Singleton during an attempted robbery of a Family Dollar store. [via]
Singleton, 45, who was armed with what police later learned was a BB gun that looked like a handgun, was shot three times after he pointed a gun in the officer’s direction. Police said the shooting occurred as Singleton was trying to corral employees back into the store in the 1800 block of Creighton Road as it was closing. Singleton was wounded in the legs and arm.
Roberts and another 2nd Precinct officer were working undercover at the store after robberies of similar stores in the area. Prosecutors later dropped charges of attempted robbery and said they would seek to have Singleton indicted on more serious felony charges of abduction.
Why 2nd Precinct officers — because they were undercover?
The other officer was not a Second Precinct officer. They got it wrong. I know who it was and he was assigned to protect our neighborhoods and he does an excellent job doing so.
Great work! I look forward to seeing more of it!
i think heather may have posted to the wrong article…or she just wrote the best enthusiastic yet sarcastic response of the Spring!
Considering the level of growth of real gun violence recently revewled in a Project Safe Neighborhoods report authored by the RPD and VCU, it is surprising that all this guy could get a hold of was a BB gun. But, I guess he figured why waste the firepower on a dollar store heist. This PSN report is worth a read due to its key finding that the much- ballyhooed Project Exile seems to be suffering from deterrent attrition. The survey of Richmonders is also of interest as it seems that Richmonders feel rather negatively about their city in terms of safety and gun violence (but, feel pretty good about their neighborhoods). Might it be time for a more aggressive gun enforcement strategy by the Richmond PD? Are the politics of this city holding back a more proactive set of policing tactics? Or, have the police dug themeselves a bit of a hole in terms of trust in the community? Could trust building afford them more license for a more aggressive car stop and stop and frisk policies? Or, is it a losing battle in that no matter what they do (in terms of a more prudent use of force policy — or at efforts to be more efficient and respectful to citizens) can make up for a broader based, national lack of trust in the very communities that need police protection the most? And, perhaps more salient, do they even have the resources to increase enforcement activities while sincerly trying to improve their image to a skeptical community? These questions do not even address a more obvious problem. More arrests and convictions means more ex-cons coming back home to Richmond at some point. Needless to say, most possessing the same (or worse) behavioral proclivities and even less resources to check said proclivities.
Resources available to RPD is a big issue: not enough cops. And the politics within the department have hurt too. Despite these two handicaps, though, I think the biggest morale killer among our police officers is that there is so little support from and/or rapport with the courts. Judges in Richmond so routinely throw cases out of court that Richmond has gained the reputation as the place to come if you want to act up because nothing’s going to happen to you even if you get arrested. Many a city officer has arrested someone for drinking in public only to have the sitting judge dismiss the case because the arresting officer did not have the contents of the beer/wine container tested at the lab (what lab? and at what cost?) to verify that what was in the container labeled ‘Mad Dog 20/20,’ that looked and smelled like cheap wine, really was alcoholic. The situation with Richmond’s court system was pretty skewed when I was a cop. It’s worse now. To wit, a few years ago the daughter of a friend of mine was arrested at 2-a.m.-ish for urinating behind a bush…out of sight, off the road, but not enough out of sight. The kid got 90 days of community service. The guy whose case was heard before hers had been arrested for selling cocaine. His case was dismissed. It’s very cathartic to bemoan ‘quality of life’ issues that confront city residents daily (and nightly)…kind of like ‘scream therapy.’ But when do we stop talking and start acting? If anybody out there dislikes the effect on Union Hill that an ABC-off store on nearly every corner has on the neighborhood, please – plan to attend the ABC appeal hearing on 4/4 at 3:30 p.m.
jp… My comment was not meant to be sarcastic. I think the police did a great job of arresting the criminals who have been robbing stores in that area. I believe that the officers assigned to our sector take their jobs seriously and want to keep crime out of our neighborhoods.