After a lengthy search process, Charlottesville looked outside its own police department to find a new chief.
The City Council approved attorney and former Baltimore Police Colonel Timothy J. Longo as the chief of police yesterday without debate by a unanimous vote.
Charlottesville City Manager Gary O'Connell nominated Longo last Wednesday to replace J.W. Rittenhouse, who had served as chief since 1997.
Longo "knows how to maintain a healthy relationship between the police and the community," O'Connell said. "We were impressed by his ideas and inspired by his enthusiasm."
Longo said he hopes to take some time at the beginning of his tenure to get to know the people of Charlottesville and the men and women of the police department, before developing a strategic plan for law enforcement in the area.
He also praised the achievements of Rittenhouse and said Charlottesville has a "world-class police department."
"One of the things that attracted me to Charlottesville, besides the great civic responsibility of the citizens here, is the opportunity to be part of a university environment," Longo said.
Most college students only know police in their capacity as law enforcers and often view them negatively, Longo said. "In reality, less than a third of what we do is enforcement- related."
Longo said he hopes to educate students at the University about the role of police and how Charlottesville's cops are valuable assets to students and the greater University community.
From 1992 to 1994, Longo served in Internal Affairs for the Baltimore City Police Department and investigated police corruption and civil rights violations.
In 1994, he was appointed director of the Department's Communications Division and implemented the nation's first three-digit non-emergency call system (311). Other cities across America have since adopted the system.
Longo also served as chief of staff for the Baltimore Police Commissioner's office before retiring from the force in April 2000.
Since then, he served as an adjunct professor in the department of sociology, anthropology and criminal justice at Towson State University in Maryland.
Longo said he enjoyed working with college students at Towson State and was even able to soften some of the traditionally hard and unfavorable opinions students often hold about police.
After his brief stint in academia, Longo said he is ready to start work at City Hall later this month.
"Before I interviewed for this position, my wife told me, 'don't be worried about getting a job, just go out and find your destiny,'" he said.
"I think I've found my destiny," he said to loud applause from a standing-room only crowd at City Hall last night.
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