Former Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone accepts offer to become top cop in Illinois

Larry Boone, Norfolk’s former chief of police, has accepted an offer for the same position in Urbana, Illinois, a little over a year after he retired from his post here. His hire is pending approval.

Urbana’s City Council will vote on his appointment and the details of his contract, which confers a $205,000 annual salary, on Monday, according to Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin. Boone was the only finalist brought to the city over the yearlong, nationwide search, Marlin said, adding the community’s response had been “overwhelmingly positive.”

Boone met with the police department, council members, community stakeholders, other area law enforcement officials and emergency response officials earlier this spring. He also participated in two town halls with the public, according to Marlin.

“At the end of the day, based on his qualifications and his experience, especially with his approach to community-based policing and willingness to try new ideas … he just emerged as, we believe, the candidate who was the best fit for the city,” Marlin said Friday. “He’s, I think, a progressive chief and that’s what we’re looking for. So, I was impressed.”

Boone said he felt welcomed and “championed” by Urbana’s city government, police department and community. Getting support from all three was rare throughout his job search, he said.

“They made it clear they had followed me, they had researched me and they saw how I was able to … engage the community, address crime as well as be transparent, promote diversity, and hold officers accountable,” Boone said. “Because of social unrest the last couple years, that’s the new paradigm and cities are trying to find a way — ‘how do we navigate that without upsetting that small fraction … within the police department that may not be ready for a progressive, reform-minded chief.’”

Marlin said she expects the council will approve his appointment.

If approved, Boone will go from managing a police force of 757 in a city with more than 235,000 people to a city with 59 officers and a population of 38,600. But the job of chief doesn’t really change based on scale, he said.

“Policing is policing,” Boone said. “That’s one of the things I’ve learned, I’ve interviewed with cities with 8,000 policemen to 50 policemen — they all have the same concerns … The only difference tended to be the level of crime. That’s a real difference, Urbana doesn’t have the same challenges as Norfolk.”

During one of the town halls in Urbana, Boone had an interaction that was critical to his decision to accept the job. He said a white woman who was with a group of others wearing “Back the Blue” and “Thin Blue Line”-themed shirts approached him as he was leaving. According to Boone, the woman grabbed his hand, looked him in the eyes, and said, “You’re amazing, everything you said is true, we want you here.”

Boone said others nodded behind the woman, who is the mother of an officer in the department.

“I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting that,” he said, because of experiences when people wearing those types of shirts didn’t agree with his approach to policing. “She was very passionate about what she was saying. I’m an imposing fella, it’s kind of hard to look me in my eyes, and she meant it and it just moved me to a point where I was like, ‘Man, I gotta come here.’”

Urbana began an 18-month public safety review in January to evaluate its response model for police and fire calls for service with the goal of eventually looking at implementing alternatives, Marlin said. The city had a spike in gun violence in 2021, in line with nationwide trends, the mayor said, and while violence decreased in 2022, it’s still a concern.

Urbana is near full staff, though Marlin said it’s expecting a significant amount of retirements in the next six months. Boone said he wants to expand their staff in order to accomplish some of the goals city leadership wants him to achieve.

Boone’s retirement came suddenly last spring in the weeks following a pair of high-profile shootings downtown Norfolk. In an interview Friday, Boone said he took six months off before trying to find a new job and now feels, “I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

“It’s refreshing to be wanted somewhere where city government wants you, the community wants you as well as the police department,” he said. “In this current environment and the type of chief I’ve been and will continue to be, it’s refreshing.”

Norfolk’s former chief said he will “always cherish” his 33 years with the Norfolk Police Department and commended the city for its recent steps to address crime with more advanced technology.

“During my tenure I had the pleasure of working with some of the finest women and men and professional staff members that are merely trying to do the very best they can under some very difficult times,” Boone said. “To the community, I always tried to center the community in every decision I made, particularly those communities that didn’t always have a voice.”

Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com