A couple days after Portsmouth Police Chief Renado Prince was fired, Pastor Barry Randall voiced concern.
At a time of rising crime in the city, the police department simply can’t afford more leadership turnover in its upper ranks, Randall said Thursday morning.
“For the chief of police to be fired after just under a year of serving … I think it was done prematurely,” Randall said. “We need to give our officers hope by steady, consistent leadership. And without steady, consistent leadership, the bottom will crumble and fall.”
But the pastor sounded much different hours later, after Interim Police Chief Stephen D. Jenkins spoke at an anti-violence event at New First Baptist Church Thursday night. Flanked by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Portsmouth Sheriff Michael A. Moore, Jenkins drew multiple rounds of applause from the crowd of more than 125 people with his forceful delivery on a range of topics.
Jenkins talked about Portsmouth residents taking responsibility for their actions, including people talking to their neighbors instead of staying behind their “privacy fences.” He hearkened back to simpler times when neighbors were unafraid to call out young people for their misdeeds.
“We need you to get involved,” Jenkins urged the crowd. “We need you to have some urgency to handle the situation … The way that you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. We can get it done. But if you don’t believe that, we’re already defeated.”
Randall approached Jenkins after the two-hour event, and the men clasped hands and quickly embraced.
“Everything happens for a reason, as much as I love Chief Prince,” Randall told Jenkins. “We can work with you, brother.”
The interaction left Randall hopeful. And his change in view shows that even with a strong undercurrent of frustration with some city leaders — a petition is circulating to force four city council members from their posts — many Portsmouth residents have hope things can turn around.
Jenkins, 48, is Portsmouth’s fifth permanent or interim police chief in just over three years. But he’s familiar with the city’s challenges.
He was hired full-time in 2003 after a year as an auxiliary officer. He then spent nearly three years on patrol before becoming a detective. He became a detective sergeant in 2011, at points overseeing robbery and homicide investigations, then became a lieutenant. Prince appointed him as an assistant chief in December, to oversee administration and criminal investigations.
Jenkins’ biggest challenge, he said, is addressing the department’s staffing shortage. The department has 175 sworn officers, down 90 — or nearly a third — from a full contingent.
“We’re doing the best we can,” he told The Virginian-Pilot in an interview Friday. “We’re in the fight every day, showing up for work. And we’ve got some dedicated people that just need some stability, some reassurance that their citizens back them. That goes a long way.”
The shakeup that led to Jenkins’ promotion took place earlier this week.
Only a few days into her new job, Portsmouth City Manager Tonya Chapman fired Prince, 59, on Tuesday from the job he held for only 10 months. Chapman, a former Portsmouth police chief herself, hired Prince as an assistant chief four years ago.
Before Prince’s ouster, Chapman herself was forced out as chief in early 2019. Her eventual successor, Angela Greene, was terminated in 2020 following a controversy in which police charged state Sen. Louise Lucas and 18 others in the protest that destroyed a downtown Confederate monument and seriously injured a protestor.
Prince, who had nearly 40 years in law enforcement, told WVEC-TV this week that his firing stemmed from a text message he sent in a group chat that was critical of Chapman — with Prince not realizing his new boss was among the text’s recipients.
He told the network he regretted the blunder, saying he was wrong to criticize a superior to his own underlings. At the same time, Prince said he didn’t think his mistake warranted his firing. On Thursday, Prince told The Pilot that he didn’t want to elaborate.
“I don’t want to go tit-for-tat with the city,” he said. “I’ve said my piece. I’m pretty much done with that episode in my life, and I’m moving on. And I really do wish everybody in the city — the employees and everybody in Portsmouth — the best.”
Asked what his termination means for crime-fighting efforts he launched, Prince would not talk about that, either.
“I hate it, but I’m finished with that,” he said. “I don’t know what they’re going to do … I’m looking for my next opportunity right now. I’m relaxing, enjoying my time with my wife and family.”
Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover said he was disappointed Prince is leaving, saying “his work was exemplary” and “he had the support of the police officers.”
Glover pointed out that Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety Robert Mosier recently came to Portsmouth to recognize a community policing program initiated by former City Manager Angel Jones and carried out by Prince. The program, Glover said, included violence interrupters, and the deployment of trauma counselors to help residents during trying times.
“We were making a lot of progress,” Glover said, saying summer youth job programs and anti-gun-violence efforts were having an impact, too.
A lot needs to be done, given that Portsmouth consistently ranks at the top of the region’s seven cities in terms of crime per capita.
The city has had 20 homicides so far this year — including a quadruple homicide June 7, according to a database kept by The Pilot. That’s up from 13 homicides at this point in 2021, a year that finished with 35 slayings. Non-fatal shootings are up significantly this year too, officials said.
Glover said the turnover at the top of the agency leaves him “concerned about the stability of the department.”
“That’s problematic in any job, but particularly law enforcement that comes with a high stress level,” he said. Police officers “need to know that they have consistency in leadership, particularly if things should occur when they need that support.”
In a statement released Wednesday, Chapman didn’t get into specifics of Prince’s firing.
“Whenever I am considering terminating an employee, I do not take this decision lightly,” she wrote. But city managers “must be able to make difficult and unpopular decisions.”
Chapman said public safety will be a top priority and that Jenkins would soon be making recommendations. “I look forward to getting the input of citizens as we continue to discuss crime and violence prevention,” she wrote.
One civic leader, Elvira Johnson Williams, 67, president of the Wilson Ward/Gospel Gosport Civic League, was among those concerned about Prince’s departure. She said he was “cleaning up the crime” when he was let go.
“Chief Prince was not only well respected, but he was also very much loved as well,” Williams said, adding that he was approachable and had the widespread support of civic leaders.
“He was making headway, and things were happening for the good of the city,” she said. “He did what he was supposed to do in the little teeny bit of time that he was here. He was not even given a year to complete half his assignment.”
She was guarded about Jenkins after hearing him Thursday night. “He seems to be on the right track, but we just need to wait and see,” she said.
Elliott Hill, 41, who also attended the event, said he didn’t think Prince did enough to get the word out about the programs for young people. Instead, he said, it felt like Prince would wait for them to commit crimes before stepping in.
“We were saying maybe get your officers or some of these grassroots organizations to go out in the community and pitch your programs and show what’s available,” said Hill. “He had no door-to-door, and they had no way to showcase the programs that the city of Portsmouth offers.”
Hill put Jenkins on the spot Thursday: “Are you gonna listen to us when you’re creating your package?”
Jenkins said he would.
“When they gave me this fourth star, the answers didn’t come with it,” he said. “I’m depending on that feedback and those conversations in order to this done together.”
Another attendee at the meeting, Robert Woodson, said he was angry when he heard Prince was terminated. “It upset me,” he said. “Tell the citizens the reason why you let this man go.”
But Woodson, 53, said he walked away from the night confident in Jenkins.
“He did an awesome job because he let us know that he got programs to come in,” Woodson said. “He’s trying to get it together. But he’s gonna need everybody’s help.”
Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com
