NORFOLK, Va. - There is a reason Larry Boone first put on a police uniform 33 years ago.
"Where I grew up, we did not like police," recalls the retired Norfolk Police Chief. "Because of how I was treated, I wanted to be a positive role model that wore the uniform," he adds.
Boone, now WTKR's crime analyst, sat down with News 3 anchor Blaine Stewart about the shrinking number of Americans who want to serve in law enforcement and how the job of policing is changing before our eyes.
Click the video player at the top of the page to watch the full conversation.
This generation doesn't embrace the idea of law enforcement. I'm not saying they don't embrace the idea of public servants, because they are certainly public servant minded. When you look at departments when they are doing their marketing for recruitment, the data shows that when you show folks that are serving the community, and I'm talking about videos that show officers serving the community, helping people, compared to the cool stuff, people in SWAT clothing and K-9, those don't really appeal to this generation as it did to my generation.
Boone points to the social justice movement that spread across the nation in 2020 as the catalyst for change.
"It changed policing to a point that will never go back to where we were prior to that George Floyd event," Boone believes.
News 3 requested records from police departments in each of the Seven Cities. In Norfolk alone, the department is down 254 officers as of October 3. That is a deficit Boone says could take years to overcome, partly because of how difficult it is to recruit new officers:
It's a sacrifice in terms of you're going to miss birthdays, you're gonna miss celebrations, you're going to be working odd hours, you know, it impacts your mental health, your physical health greatly.
Boone tells News 3 despite the sacrifices those in law enforcement make, it is still a career he would choose all over again.
"When you do everything right, and everything falls into place, and you have the support of your community and your local government, it can be a very rewarding profession."
