RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Friday, Acting Police Chief Rick Edwards accepted the resignation of two high-level leaders within the Richmond Police Department (RPD).
8News sources say both RPD Chief of Staff Spencer Cochran and Deputy Chief John Hayes have resigned from their posts.
The resignations come just over four months after the resignation of former RPD police chief Gerald Smith in October 2022. Both Cochran and Hayes had been hired by Smith.
Cochran was brought onto the RPD team from Charlotte in August 2022. Both Cochran and Smith were previously employed with the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Police Department in North Carolina. Smith hired Hayes a year later, out of Seattle.
According to their biographies on the RPD website, Cochran was responsible for and directed both the Community Youth and Intervention Services and the Executive Protection Unit. Deputy Chief John Hayes directed Patrol Services for the department.
