Williams: Without justice or peace in Richmond, who the police chief is doesn’t matter | Govt. and Politics

RCOP has aired its grievances on two billboards in Richmond, which Gerald Smith dismissed by saying, “RCOP is not part of RPD.”

To which Holsworth said, “Well, it talks for half of it.”

“That’s a dramatic step because it puts you in an adversarial position with your boss,” Holsworth said.

Elsewhere, the RCOP vote was greeted with skepticism.

Goad Gatsby, an activist who documented the 2020 protests on social media, characterized the no-confidence vote as “the union being resistant to any attempts of accountability and trying to give Stoney a headache until he folds to them.”

He questioned how representative the group is. “RCOP is less than half of active RPD officers and, from my understanding, overwhelming white.”

Allan-Charles Chipman, an activist who ran for City Council in 2020, echoed that concern, citing the optics of Scott, who is Black, speaking as white officers stood behind him. He wants to hear more from RPD’s Black officers.

He wonders if police officers are “tired of being served rash political replacements,” if they view Smith as “too progressive or not tough enough an advocate for them,” or if they are terrified at the idea of a civilian review board, “as is often the case unfortunately of how police departments respond.”