The Town of Windsor’s police chief proposed several ideas to council members this week he hopes will help boost officer training and improve the department’s relationship with its citizens and the thousands of drivers who pass through each day.
Chief Rodney “Dan” Riddle presented his four-point plan Tuesday during the first of many workshops the council plans after police body cam video of a controversial traffic stop recently went viral.
The video shows officers drawing their guns on Army Lt. Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, after they pulled him over, and then pepper spraying him after he said he was afraid to get out of his vehicle.
The most aggressive officer was fired after the incident thrust the town into the national spotlight, while the other remains on the force. The officers said they thought Nazario was eluding them because he drove for nearly a mile before pulling over in a well-lit spot.
Among the ideas Riddle proposed was contracting with Lexipol, a business that consists of attorneys and retired law enforcement leaders who work with public safety agencies across the country to ensure they’re following the latest policies and procedures and have the most up-to-date training.
The chief also said he plans to start including citizens in the department’s hiring process, is expanding training for his officers, and would like to invest in speed monitoring devices to help reduce the number of traffic stops.
While police departments in Virginia are not required to be accredited, Riddle believes it will be expected in the future and he hopes working with Lexipol can help his department reach that goal. The town council, however, would have to approve the additional expense, he said.
Riddle, who took over the seven-member police department in 2016, said he’d like to create a hiring panel to help choose new officers. The group would consist of two Windsor police officers, two citizens and one town council member. Before, Riddle and the department’s other officers made the hiring decisions, he said.
Additional training for officers has begun, the chief said. One program teaches about de-escalation strategies and the other concerns implicit bias, which is when we have attitudes toward people or associate stereotypes with them without our conscious knowledge.
The Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police will offer some of that training, Riddle said.
Lastly, Riddle asked council members to consider investing in electronic speed monitoring devices to be installed on U.S. Route 460. The devices would alert drivers when they are exceeding the speed limit and likely would help reduce the number of traffic stops needed, he said.
On Wednesday, members of the Isle of Wight NAACP met with town officials and continued to call for Riddle and Daniel Crocker — the other officer involved in the stop — to resign or be fired, but town officials have said they stand by both men.
Jane Harper, 757-222-5097, jane.harper@pilotonline.com