Police Chief Scott C. Booth on Monday was presented with the Excellence in Policing Award from the Radford University Center for Police Practice, Policy and Research. The annual award recognizes police leaders who champion innovative strategies that improve policing and bring about change in a community.
Since joining the City of Danville as police chief in January 2018, Booth has led the Police Department in implementing community policing and a stratified policing approach. The stratified policing model uses evidence-based strategies that are proactive rather than reactive.
“When I first came here, I saw there was so much potential in the city, and specifically in that (police) department,” Booth said today when accepting the award. “… It was a community that was hungry for community policing and a better way to do things. I had the support of City leadership, which wanted things to get better and told me on day one that ‘we want this to be a premier place to live, work and play, and we want you to help us to get there.’”
Booth said the department also was “hungry to get better.”
“It was a professional department, and it was open to new ideas and new ways of doing things,” Booth said. “We’ve done some really good things, and we have a lot more as a city and an organization that we are going to do together.”
When presenting the award, Roberto Santos, co-director of the center and associate professor of criminal justice at Radford University, called Booth a leader in embracing evidence-based strategies and creating change in a police organization to institutionalize these practices while partnering with the community at the same time.
“The Danville Police Department, through his leadership and with the community support, has been able to bridge the two together where you are able to sustain crime reduction to make the community feel safer while building this partnership and relationship with the community,” Santos said.
Rachel Santos, co-director of the center and professor of criminal justice at Radford University, said the center holds Booth and the Police Department as examples for other police departments in Virginia and the nation.
“With this award, we really wanted to recognize Chief Booth for his strong and effective leadership, as well as the Danville Police Department, which has become a premier police agency in Virginia and the United States,” she said.
The Center for Police Practice, Policy and Research gives this award once a year to a current sworn police officer, supervisor, commander, or executive who is a leader in their agency and has been a champion for the implementation of innovative strategies that bring about change and improve policing.