By Nate Delesline III

Published: May 11, 2008

When Culpeper Police Chief Scott Barlow joined the force a year ago, he says that he felt a bit apprehensive when people approached him on the street.

But instead of a concern or a complaint, Barlow was surprised to find that most people just wanted to catch up and find out how he was doing.

“It’s a totally different world than I was used to,” Barlow said.

After 21 years with the Newport News Police Department, Barlow came to Culpeper in search of a change from big city life. And a year into his new job as the head of the town’s police force, Barlow said he’s found it, along with challenges, complications and interest.

The Challenges
Barlow said he did not anticipate one of the first challenges he faced — the politics that come with holding the top spot of any key institution in a small community.

“It’s a lot more political than I expected,” he said.

Since arriving in Culpeper, Barlow said about a half dozen people have left for various reasons — some personal, others professional. Like any other job, Barlow said, some people don’t give new leadership a chance. Others do, but decide it’s time to move on anyway.

Despite being a little bit shorthanded, Barlow expressed confidence in his present staff of about 40 sworn officers and civilians and said department morale is good.

“I’d rather be short people than have people we shouldn’t have hired in the first place,” he said.

The ability of Northern Virginia’s cities and counties to offer better pay also is an ongoing challenge. That’s why he’s worked to implement several incentives to keep officers here and attract new ones.

Barlow cited the Master Police Officer program as one of the biggest. Modeled after a program at his former department, the program recognizes top officers in their field without requiring them to go up for promotions or give up their street beats for a desk job.

“These are the things that help you compete,” he said.

The Complications
But he acknowledged that all those points could be moot depending on the outcome of the proposed town-county consolidation.

“I want to get through this consolidation thing,” Barlow said. “We’re kind of in a holding pattern.”

If the move to consolidate goes forward, Barlow said, essentially two options would exist for law enforcement — transition the town force into a countywide police force, or dissolve the town police and allow the sheriff’s office to take over all law enforcement in the county. He said each option has its pros and cons.

And once that question has been decided, Barlow said the next big one will be a long-term plan for a new police station.

Town leaders have acknowledged the need to replace the department’s headquarters on Cameron Street, but thus far, budget issues have kept work from progressing beyond the initial design stages. To make up for the shortfall, no new police cars will be purchased for the next budget year, a short-term savings of about $100,000.

With a second election — the town’s — also behind him, Barlow said it’s clear that while illegal immigration is an issue for some, it’s not a top concern for all.

“People would be very surprised about what the community is concerned about,” Barlow said. Residents are overwhelmingly more concerned about other issues like property crimes and traffic that have a more tangible impact on the quality of life.

But as police chief, Barlow acknowledged that he must take direction from several people — the mayor, the Town Council and the town manager. If they want his focus to be illegal immigration, he said, he would create a plan to address it.

“The immigration issue has always been a challenge,” he said. “If that’s the direction the council wants to go, I think it’d be spinning my wheels,” Barlow said.

He said he shares the view of federal officials that limited enforcement resources should be spent tracking and detaining illegal immigrants who are violent criminals or involved in gang activity.

The interest and support
Barlow had nothing but praise for the area’s other law enforcement agencies, calling their relationship super.

“The State Police has given us anything we ask for. I can get on the phone and call (Culpeper County Sheriff Jim) Branch and he’ll do the same thing. Together, we have plenty of people. That ‘territorial-ness’ is a huge issue in law enforcement, but we don’t have that problem here.” The area’s other top lawmen said the feeling is mutual.

“I think that since we serve the citizens of the community, when we can do the job better, we can serve everyone better,” Branch said.

As an example of cooperation, Branch cited the recent deployment of the area’s Joint Operations Team, which is a SWAT group composed of both sheriff’s deputies and town officers. The team was deployed for the first time early last week.

“For a community this size, we’ve been blessed with having great administrators as chief,” said Virginia State Police Capt. Michael Spivey.

A fellow former Newport News resident and a trooper since 1971, Spivey said he’s seen a lot of people come and go, but Barlow has already made a good impression on him and the community.

“I have enjoyed talking to him and it just makes it so much easier to work with a person when you have some understanding of who they are and where they’re from,” said Spivey, who supervises the daily road operations of the area’s troopers.

The Future
Barlow says all of the police department goals were accomplished as a team and credit is due to everyone for making them happen.

When he’s not working, Barlow said he enjoys riding his motorcycle — one that doesn’t have police lights or a siren. He says he hasn’t set a timetable on how long he might stay but he’s not in any hurry to leave either.

“I like it here. I just have to feel like I’m contributing — I don’t enjoy treading water.”

Nate Delesline III can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 110 or .

Highlights of Barlow’s tenure so far
Culpeper police chief Scott Barlow listed the following highlights of his tenure here so far:

- Establishing a master police officer program to recognize top officers
- Increasing and maintaining cooperation between area law enforcement agencies through programs like the Joint Citizens Criminal Justice Academy and a combined SWAT team
- New technology that will debut this summer expected to reduce paperwork and improve information sharing within the department
- Recognizing and supporting retired police officers