Richmond police seek to restore environmental officer teams amid staffing shortfall

The Richmond Police Department told the Public Safety Standing Committee that attrition has reduced its environmental officer program from four officers—one per precinct—to a single officer covering the entire city.

“We had 4 precincts… up until the last several years, we had 1 environmental officer per precinct. Through attrition retirement, we have… only have 1 that is currently working. Her name is Karen Spencer,” Chief Rick Edwards said during the committee’s presentation. He said Spencer is based at Second Precinct but responds to complaints across the city.

Edwards described environmental officers as focused on quality-of-life enforcement that can reduce conditions linked to more serious crime through CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design). He listed recurring complaints the officers handle—graffiti, abandoned cars, overgrown lots and other blight—and said the department has relied on a mix of teams, including the HOPE outreach unit and a CRT team that pairs two officers with two clinicians from Richmond Behavioral Health for incidents tied to mental health or substance use.

To rebuild the program, Edwards said he wants to recruit through the department’s “hire back” program, which hires retired Richmond officers part time. “I would like to hire the right person to come back so we could at least have 1 South Of The River and 1 North Of The River to address the the myriad of complaints,” he said. He also encouraged recruitment more broadly: “We have about 70 openings we're trying to fill this calendar year alone,” Edwards said, and noted the department was holding a hiring day.

Council members asked whether the environmental officer and outreach roles are civilian positions; Edwards said those positions are currently filled by sworn officers because they can issue criminal citations, go to court and make arrests when needed, though he acknowledged there may be opportunities to civilianize some duties.

Edwards discussed enforcement challenges such as illegal tire dumping and abandoned vehicles. He said tires are difficult to trace because they carry no vehicle identification and noted the department has had success using trail cameras in repeat-dump locations to capture license plates. On abandoned vehicles, he described the department’s street-tagging practice: “If they're on the street, we'll put 1 of those pink tags on it. They have 72 hours to move it. If not, we tow it in sight,” he said.

Asked how the committee or council could help, Edwards asked members to publicize recruitment activities and the hiring day. The chief said restoring staffing levels would allow quicker responses to 311 complaints and council requests.

The committee heard from council members who described persistent local problems—illegal dumping around motels, tall unmaintained lots, and abandoned vehicles—and pressed for faster responses. The discussion closed with Edwards and council members agreeing to continue coordination and outreach on recruitment and enforcement priorities.

No formal vote or ordinance related to the environmental officer program was recorded during the committee meeting.