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Norfolk Police Chief addresses City Council for the first time since admitting NSU K-9 attack was unreasonable

Posted at 3:33 PM, Feb 10, 2015
and last updated 2015-02-10 19:02:36-05

Norfolk, Va. - The item leading Tuesday night's Norfolk City Council agenda was a briefing by Police Chief Michael Goldsmith.

The Chief was there to talk about new body cameras and the annual budget; however the City's Vice Mayor Angelia Williams told NewsChannel 3 she expected him to bring up the London Colvin case which involved an NSU student who was attacked by a K-9. She stated she was expecting the chief to give his findings on the case, including any changes to the policy or disciplinary actions.

When it was time for questions, none of the council members asked questions about the incident and it was never mentioned.

It was the first time Goldsmith spoke to the city council since he admitted unleashing a police dog to arrest Colvin, was unreasonable.

"That's my fault," Goldsmith said previously.

Colvin was attacked by the police dog at an off-campus party nearly back on January 25th. Her story and pictures of her injuries went viral on social media.

Days after the attack is when the police chief took responsibility, saying the department's K9 policy wasn't clear enough.

"It's up to me as a police chief to make sure our policies are tight, but the guidance was not deep enough to be able to give the officers the tools they need to be able to make a good decision in the use of the dog,"  Goldsmith said.

Since then the Chief says he's been reviewing the policy.

Related: 

UPDATE: Charges dropped against NSU student attacked by Norfolk police dog

Friends hold protest in support of NSU student attacked by police dog

Norfolk Police Chief on use of K-9 force in detaining NSU student: “It’s my fault”