People of Richmond: Does the city need more police?
on January 21, 2025
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity.
Q: Do you think Richmond has enough police officers?
Chris Zarete
“No. I don’t think so. I think they can definitely beef up a little bit maybe for their safety and for others’ safety as well. There’s certain areas of Richmond where it’s not really safe. And I’m sure as a police officer, too, they probably will not feel super safe going to certain areas without proper backup. I think that could help with everyone’s safety.”
Megan McKeon
“Probably not. There’s just so much going on and maybe they’re overworked and underpaid. And I have no idea why there’s so many problems in Richmond. … I live in a really great part of Richmond, in the Richmond annex. So there’s no problems over there, but everywhere else there seems to be problems.”
William Wyatt
“Yes. … The solutions are not necessarily police officers, but you can create other programs with other trained people to address many of the needs of society that police officers are unequipped and overly demanded to address.“
Haiden Oakander
“That’s kind of a loaded question. I think policing is definitely something that needs to be addressed. I don’t know that I would say there’s maybe the right amount or that more or less officers is quite the answer.”
Paul Pospisil
“I think that there’s too many police officers with old-style training and we need more mental health professionals available for emergencies.”
Mike Joyce
“They need about 10 times more than they have right now. … Zero response any time I’ve called, and just general mayhem in the community.”
Danielle Baker
“No, I don’t. Because of the amount of crime that is becoming more prevalent, I think that every city needs more officers — at least patrolling the streets.”
Karla Perez
“Absolutely not. We are struggling to attain officers. Ever since the George Floyd incident, it’s hard for every department to try to get good officers onto their departments, you know. We have a City Council that does not believe in our officers.”
Cindy Hayden
“I am a police chaplain and have been their coordinator for the toy program, so I might be a little biased, but we don’t have enough police officers. Our officers are working double shifts, they are tired, they miss time with their families and miss important milestones in their lives and their kids’ lives. No, we don’t have the coverage we need.”
Andrew Alabanza
“Yes, I mean for the city size, yeah, it’s enough. Living all my life in Richmond, I feel like it’s pretty safe.”
Elishes Cavness
“There’s always room for more. Like there’s always room for more ice cream, cake and desserts. When there’s more officers, they’ll be able to get out of their cars and walk throughout the neighborhood and get to know people more and better. And then we’ll have better employees, have better police, more of a community there.”
Haley Smith
“I want to say, yeah, but at the same time, no, because I see them a lot more in different cities. But if I drive around in Richmond, then I rarely see them.”
Ocean Escalanti
“I would say throughout the week, we probably hear multiple cop cars going up and down the street, and also the presence of helicopters looking for people, and then parking enforcement on 23rd Street. It’s very, very diligent. So we see cops a lot. I would say there’s a lot of cops. There’s enough.”
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