New RPD Chief lays out vision during community conversation in southeast Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- On Thursday night, new Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce held an open community conversation in Southeast Raleigh, laying out his vision for the department in the neighborhood where he worked his first beat with RPD.

It's the latest effort in community engagement for Boyce, who has revived department initiatives such as Cops on the Block in his first 45 days as Chief. During Thursday's gathering, which was attended by local residents and elected officials, Boyce often spoke from the heart.

"I'm telling you, I need each and every one of you to help me be successful, to help the Raleigh Police Department be successful. To help this community, this city to stay safe," he said.

For Boyce, events like Thursday at the Sergeant Courtney T. Johnson Community Center are an opportunity to share his journey from Southeast Raleigh SRO and beat cop to detective, to Chief of Police.

"The young men didn't see me as Officer Boyce, they just called me Boyce. They took the officer away because we got to know one another," he said, reflecting on his early days policing in the neighborhood.

Boyce spoke candidly with residents, pledging to pour himself into their community as he said they did when he walked a beat there 20 years ago. Afterwards, he told ABC11 it's all part of a new vision.

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"If you put work in, you make the investment, you put the work in. This is the result you'll get. You'll get the community on your side," Boyce said.

For community stakeholders like Anthony Pope, who's lived in Southeast Raleigh for nearly seven decades, it's precisely the approach they've been looking for.

"The relationship with Southeast Raleigh and the police has not always been a good relationship," Pope said. "So to see that he is engaging and that he's out in the community and he has his officers out in the community, that really has made a difference."

Pope is Southeast Raleigh born and raised, and worked as an educator before retiring and starting Men of Southeast Raleigh as a way to look out for the community and its young men. The group has since grown from two volunteers to 70, and Pope says he's hopeful to see renewed buy-in in the area where he grew up.

"They're back in the community and knocking on doors. They're meeting people. They've got the community engaged. And I think that's going to be very important in building those relationships that are needed," he said.

Just 45 days into his tenure as the city's top cop, Boyce is vowing to build that momentum and turn it into a new brand of policing in our capital city.

"Whoever that's trying to make a positive change in the city of Raleigh, the Raleigh Police Department wants to be a partner," he said.