JRPS bike officer honored by Richmond Police force

If you play, bike or hike anywhere between Forest Hill Park and Belle Isle, you may have been Officer Stacy Rogers on his bike. He is a constant presence in the James River Park and was awarded the Officer of the Month for May by the Richmond Police Department.  Officer Stacy Rogers had a very good month […]

June 24, 2011; 6:23 AM • by Phil Riggan

If you play, bike or hike anywhere between Forest Hill Park and Belle Isle, you may have been Officer Stacy Rogers on his bike. He is a constant presence in the James River Park and was awarded the Officer of the Month for May by the Richmond Police Department. 

Officer Stacy Rogers had a very good month of May and has been awarded the Officer of the Month honors. But as we enter the summer months, Bike Officer Rogers believes his best work is ahead of him. Rogers patrols some of the city’s most-visited summertime spaces, Forest Hill Park and the James River Park System, and he says his hard work will help make those parks a wonderful place to visit this summer.

According to the Richmond Police facebook page, he was named last week. The department’s website has a video profile of Rogers that includes the following:

He is a parks and recreation major from VCU and has been an outdoor enthusiast his whole life.

“For me, to be able to police in that neighborhood is really the ultimate in policing. Probably 85 percent of the time that I’m dealing with someone, its in a positive encounter,” he said.

“Part of what I’m doing is to go to those hard-to-reach areas [of the James River Park], and to make people aware, like ‘Look, I’m here.’ There’s no place in the park that you’re not likely to encounter me. They’re surprised and that’s why they’re like ‘never seen the police here before.’”

He said he spends a fair amount of time at the river dealing with alcohol violations and glass containers, which are both banned from City of Richmond parks.

“We’re working to actually get the Buttermilk Trail, the North Bank Trail and the trails on Belle Isle on our CAD system [Computer Aided Dispatch] on the GPS,” he said.

Part of the job in the JRPS is to be a tour guide, he said. “People come down to the park — they’ve never been here before and they’re trying to find where they’re going.”

June 24, 2011 6:23 AM 0