PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Portsmouth’s police department is holding a swearing in ceremony for assistant chiefs Na’Shayla Nelson and Stephen Jenkins on Tuesday morning.
PPD will livestream the event at 11 a.m. on their Facebook page.
Nelson is a military veteran who started her law enforcement career in 2007, and most recently served as chief of police in Maxton, North Carolina. She has advanced law enforcement certification in Virginia and North Carolina and has undergone advanced law enforcement programs at N.C. State, the University of Richmond and more, the department says. She also has a bachelor’s degree from Upper Iowa University, master’s degrees in Public Policy and Administration with a concentration in Disaster Management from American Military University and Philosophy from Walden University. She’s also studying for her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Walden University.
Jenkins has been working in law enforcement since 1997 and joined the Portsmouth Police Department’s Uniform Patrol division in 2003. He’s been in an investigator in the department’s Professional Standards Unit (Internal Affairs) and Property Crimes Unit, and was promoted to sergeant in 2011 and lieutenant in 2018. As a lieutenant, he was the commander of the Professional Standards Unit, the Training Division and the Special Investigation Division, supervising the Special Investigations Unit (Narcotics), the Fugitive Apprehension Unit and the Gang Intelligence Unit, the department says.
The Chesapeake native and Virginia State University graduate was appointed to be Interim Assistant Chief in December 2021. He’s working on a master’s in Public Administration and Criminal Justice from Columbia Southern University.
Renado Prince, who previously served as assistant chief, was named Portsmouth’s new police chief in September. He’s holding a quarterly chief’s forum at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
