Chattanooga Police Department Lt. Todd Royval, right, speaks as Assistant Chief Tracy Arnold listens during a press conference Monday at the Police Services Center.For the second time this year the city must replace a key leader in Mayor Andy Berke's Violence Reduction Initiative.
Last week, Lt. Todd Royval asked to be removed from his leadership role as head of the police department's crime suppression unit -- the unit created to respond to gangs -- and point man for VRI within the police department.
Chattanooga Police Department Chief Fred Fletcher confirmed that Royval made the request to be reassigned, citing personal reasons that the chief couldn't talk about.
"We're very happy with the work he has done," Fletcher said. "We didn't in any sense ask him to leave."
Fletcher emphasized that Royval's reassignment won't set VRI back, even as he plans to send more police officers to New York to train as Royval did. The chief hasn't picked Royval's replacement yet.
Royval -- who has 20 years of police experience -- was among a group of leaders sent to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice last year to train on how to implement the city's violence reduction initiative, modeled after a program in High Point, N.C. The police method written by criminologist David Kennedy focuses on a small number of chronic offenders to offer them a second chance in return for putting down their guns or stiff punishment if they do not.
Earlier this year, the city lost another key leader for VRI. Richard Bennett, founder of A Better Tomorrow, was the primary contact for gang members looking for help to leave a gang or find a job -- a key component to VRI's success.
City Hall cut ties with Bennett after his June arrest, charges that he is still vigorously fighting in court. The city later replaced Bennett with the local nonprofit Hope for the Inner City.
At the time, the mayor's office said the change in leadership wouldn't effect the initiative's progress.
Yet overall this year, the number of homicides in Chattanooga has gone up.
Overall shootings for the year are down. Last year, the city had 109 non-fatal shootings and this year there have been 93 shootings.
In all of 2013, 19 people were slain. So far this year, 27 people have been killed.
Both Fletcher and Berke said in previous interviews that VRI is working and in October pointed to a slight decrease in gang-related shootings as a positive trend. Police could not immediately provide the most up-to-date shooting numbers Monday.
While Royval was the face of VRI when the initiative was implemented, Fletcher said many officers have been trained this year in the police strategy known as focused deterrence. The chief's goal for the police department is to eventually have every officer trained in the principles of the initiative.
"People move in and out of positions," Fletcher said. "But there is a whole team involved."
Yet the crime suppression unit -- made up of 16 officers and two sergeants-- also has lost another officer trained by New York criminologists to implement the Violence Reduction Initiative.
Sgt. Josh May was transferred out of the crime suppression unit early this fall.
When May was promoted to a sergeant position, Royval wanted to make May his special sergeant to help with intelligence, said Officer Sean O'Brien, president of the local chapter of Fraternal Order of Police. But because of a newly created policy by Fletcher, May had to have a year's experience supervising patrol officers before he could be assigned to a special position, O'Brien said.
O'Brien said he didn't know if May leaving the unit contributed to Royval's recent decision. But he also said that, as a lieutenant, Royval was working well beyond the standard 40-hour work week but was a salaried employee who couldn't receive overtime pay.
Royval was off work Monday and didn't return calls seeking comment.
Contact staff writer Joy Lukachick Smith at jsmith@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659.