Police show up at activists’ doors

A couple of weeks ago at a community meeting, Chief Al Thomas said he wasn’t worried about handling the KKK at its July 8 rally. What concerned him more were local citizens making “poor choices.” Now some are wondering if local police made poor choices in showing up at activists’ homes and asking about their […]

Response to KKK: ‘Don’t take the bait’—Chief Thomas

  By the time around 130 people crowded into the fellowship hall at Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church June 13, organizers moved the “So Now What” community forum into the sanctuary to accommodate the mass of people coming out on a rainy evening to discuss the impending appearance of the North Carolina-based Loyal White […]

Al Thomas sworn into office

Charlottesville’s first African-American Police Chief, Alfred Thomas, Jr., was sworn into office May 23. He succeeds Tim Longo, who worked with the department for 15 years. “You’ll notice they didn’t give me a gun yet,” Thomas said while fastening his new chief of police badge to his pants. City and county police in uniform, city […]

Historic hire: Al Thomas is Charlottesville’s first black police chief

City Manager Maurice Jones announced Lexington Police Chief Al Thomas as his pick to head the Charlottesville Police Department, and City Council approved Thomas, who is the city’s first black police chief, April 18. Thomas was one of 63 applicants, says Jones, in a search that was “deep” and involved three rounds of interviews. And […]