From: Nigel.Allen@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Nigel Allen)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,soc.culture.usa,va.general,alt.activism,alt.security
Subject: Virginia State Police, Richmond Police Renew City/State Partnership
Date: 17 Aug 92 23:27:24 GMT
Organization: Echo Beach

Here is a press release from the Virginia State Police.
 
 Virginia State Police, Richmond Police Renew City/State Partnership
To Address Violent Crime
 To: City and State desks
 Contact: Virginia State Police, Information Office, 804-674-2016
 
   RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In keeping with Gov. L.
Douglas Wilder's initiatives to address violent crime, trafficking
and use of illicit drugs, and the illegal purchase of firearms, the
Virginia State Police and the Richmond Bureau of Police today
announced a renewing of the city/state partnership that produced
highly successful results in Richmond from September 1990 through
May 1991.
   The special program involves the assigning of Virginia state
troopers and special agents to assist the Richmond Bureau of Police
in deterring violent crimes and identifying suspects in unsolved
crimes.  There have been 70 homicides in the city during the first
seven months of this year compared to 48 in a similar period during
1991.
   "The governor has made it very clear that Virginia will take an
aggressive, proactive approach to assisting local law enforcement in
addressing prevalent problems in a society today, and especially when
homicides are on the rise," said O. Randolph Rollins, secretary of
public safety and state police acting superintendent.  "This
commitment specifically targets the recent rapid growth in the
frequency and severity of violent crime, the increase in crime
committed by groups, the impact of cheaper and more powerful drugs,
the easy availability of guns, the use of sophisticated weaponry and
communications by criminals, and the fact that criminals and criminal
activities are increasingly mobile and do not stay within
jurisdictional boundaries."
   Lt. Col. C. R. Baker, who has been appointed superintendent of the
Virginia State Police effective Sept. 1, noted that the department
would be taking a more active role in crime prevention and
investigations in cooperation with local law enforcement and that it
would develop ways to expand and deploy its resources to meet these
challenges.  He said that as a part of this effort, the department
would be reviewing and redefining its mission, strengthening and
expanding its role as a central criminal information repository, and
working to become the primary instrument for communications and
coordination among all law enforcement operating in Virginia.
   The 1990-91 cooperative effort was an extension of Richmond's
Urban Violence Strategy and involved assigning troopers and special
agents to assist the Richmond Bureau of Police in giving increased
attention to certain locations in the city that were experiencing
high crime rates.  State Police undercover agents worked side-by-side
with Richmond narcotic officers, and nine troopers were paired with
Richmond officers to form selective enforcement units in each of
Richmond's three precincts.
   The cooperative effort culminated in May of 1991 with more than
3,300 arrests on narcotics or related charges.  A special Richmond
grand jury handed down indictments for 64 subjects on 125 charges
involving distribution of cocaine and heroin and/or conspiracy to
distribute plus several charges of grand larceny.  A similar
state/city partnership was conducted in Petersburg from mid-1991
through April 1992, involving the assignment of seven State Police
officers to work with the Petersburg Bureau of Police.  From
September 1990 to September 1991, drug arrests increased 125 percent.
In all of 1991, drug arrests increased 29 percent compared with 1990.
 -30-

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