Sometimes, it pays to break the rules. The Richmond City Council will consider nearly doubling the rates that towing companies can charge to remove vehicles from private property, even though some operators have been charging more than a city ordinance allows. The city’s maximum towing fee would be raised to $125 from $65 to match the price allowed under state code, under a proposal that’s expected to be introduced to the council tomorrow. The state rate applies only if localities don’t cap their own rates.

Richmond police officers halted a performance outside Gallery5 during the First Fridays Art Walk last week, fueling complaints that city authorities are trying to thwart the monthly event that attracts thousands of people to downtown. At about 10:30 p.m., officers stopped the performance of fire twirlers and disbursed the crowd of 200 to 250 over concerns that one lane of West Marshall Street had been blocked from vehicular traffic, said Tom Robinson, a local developer and volunteer for the gallery.

Richmond police officers spent one-on-one time yesterday with 30 needy children shopping for back-to-school clothing—talking, laughing and making friends with the youngsters. Yesterday’s outing was the second of three Shop with a Cop trips undertaken yearly in partnership with YMCA’s Bright Beginnings program. Each child had $100 to spend on clothing at the Target on Forest Hill Avenue.

Sarah Johnson fumed when her Volkswagen Jetta was towed this summer from a parking lot in Shockoe Bottom. She got angrier when she discovered that the towing company should not have charged her more than $65—far less than the $155 she had to spend to retrieve her car. “How in the world could they get away with that?“ she asked.

A jury trial starts tomorrow for three Richmond police officers charged with obstruction of justice. Authorities have said that off-duty officer Ian McCloskey beat up a man in a bar in Shockoe Bottom on Jan. 22, 2008, and that responding officers Floyd T. Campbell II and William A. House tried to cover it up. McCloskey is accused of threatening a witness.

During a recent break-in, Richmond police summoned by a burglar alarm were able to arrive on the scene quickly enough to find the intruder still inside. The faster police response stemmed from a new system used to notify Richmond’s E-911 center when an alarm goes off in a home or business. But in the city and throughout the nation, most alarm alerts still require a phone call and a two-to-three-minute verbal exchange between an alarm company and a 911 call-taker before help is sent.

The crime-fighting bedrock of Richmond’s East End is back, and this time, it’s for keeps. John Henry Taylor, for years the mainstay of the Richmond police presence in the area, has taken up a prominent perch in Libby Hill Park—sort of. Church Hill residents, searching for a way to honor the retired sergeant who they say did so much to transform their neighborhood into a safe place, decided he deserved to have a park bench named after him.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said yesterday that he’s committed to tightening a policy that allows police officers to drive their vehicles home even if they live well outside the city limits. City Council members blasted the policy as excessive after learning this week that take-home vehicles have been authorized for officers who live as far out as Fredericksburg, Jetersville and Bumpass.

Richmond City Councilman Chris A. Hilbert is abruptly dropping a proposal to reimburse a police officer for expenses related to a murder charge that ultimately was dismissed.

Richmond prosecutors were unauthorized under state law to dismiss an assault charge against a city police officer after he agreed to pay his victim’s medical costs.

Justice Department officials yesterday praised a faith-based, anti-crime program in Richmond as a national model to fight gang violence.

Thanksgiving came a week early in South Richmond. Several hundred people gathered at Bringing God’s Word to Life Ministries Church on Bryce Lane last night to give thanks and take home bags of food and a turkey courtesy of officers of the Richmond Police Department’s 2nd Precinct.

Bryan T. Norwood Richmond’s new police chief was sworn in yesterday and vowed to maintain the department’s forward momentum, immerse himself in the community and provide the support his new officers need. Bryan T. Norwood, the former chief in Bridgeport, Conn., was sworn in at Virginia Union University before about 300 people, including city leaders, politicians, Richmond police officers and heads of other law enforcement agencies.

Bryan T. Norwood comes to Richmond from Bridgeport, Conn. Richmond’s new police chief will be sworn in today at Virginia Union University. The ceremony for Bryan T. Norwood, the former police chief in Bridgeport, Conn., is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at Coburn Hall. Outgoing Mayor L. Douglas Wilder will be the keynote speaker. Also speaking will be Norwood, who will be introduced by his father, Alexander Norwood, who lives in Hampton.