Loudoun Sheriff's Office Opposes Switch To Police Department

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office came out Saturday against any attempt by the Loudoun Count Board of Supervisors to switch to a county police department similar to the policing systems in place in Fairfax, Prince William and Arlington counties. As the county has grown in population, calls have increased over the past couple decades for Loudoun County to make the county's law enforcement agency a non-political office.

The LCSO said Saturday in a news release that any effort by the Loudoun board would "take away your authority as a citizen in Loudoun County to select your top law enforcement official and places it solely in the hands of an elected Board of Supervisors, none of which currently have any local law enforcement experience."

The LCSO said a change to police department system similar to Fairfax County would cost an estimated $20 million and "would come at a time when Loudoun County government expects to experience up to a $100 million budget shortfall in this fiscal year alone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and when LCSO is playing an essential role in helping the county manage its way through this crisis."

Loudoun County Board Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D) said she plans to ask for the board to vote on whether to hold referendum in the county to let the citizens decide whether they would prefer to switch from a sheriff's system to a police department system where the county administrator would select a law enforcement official to run the department. The board vote is expected to take place July 21.

If Loudoun supervisors approve a referendum, that request would go to the Loudoun County Circuit Court to be placed on a ballot. If residents approve a new police department, the new police department would not be created until 2024 after current Sheriff Mike Chapman’s (R) term expires.

The sheriff's office, under a police department system, would retain oversight of the county's courthouse and county jail. Under Randall's proposal, a county police department and its chief would report to the county administrator, who is selected by the board of supervisors.

“That is really important to me, because it’s not about any one person,” said Randall, according to a LoudounNow report. “And Sheriff Chapman was just elected, he was duly elected, and I do not believe we should try to take the elected sheriff out of this position while his term is in office.”

At a news conference last November, Randall said Loudoun County could look to Fairfax and other large counties across the state to learn how to create a police department. Randall pointed out that in other large counties, the sheriff’s office only supervises the courts and jail and said law enforcement should never be political.

Chapman won re-election over a Democratic challenger last fall and began his third four-year term in 2020.

“Proponents of this change have said they want to take politics out of law enforcement, but in fact, they want to do just the opposite,” Chapman said Saturday in a news release issued by the LCSO. “This is a reckless power grab intended to inject partisan politics into public safety and forever change the direct accountability of the Sheriff’s Office to the people of Loudoun County."

The Loudoun board item, scheduled for a vote on July 21, "intentionally avoids consideration of other options or a coherent process for considering such a change, limiting its focus to giving the Board of Supervisors and county staff complete authority over law enforcement should the voters of Loudoun County approve the referendum," the LCSO said.

The LCSO said an internal study conducted earlier this year showed that the cost to taxpayers would exceed $20 million. The study will be released next week, according to the sheriff's office.

The internal study, with information obtained from previous independent studies, finds that the LCSO provides better accountability, stability and responsiveness to the community than a police department would and that the creation of a county-wide police department would not benefit the citizens of Loudoun County, according to the LCSO.

As residents in Virginia and across the nation call for greater accountability of police in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, Chapman is opposing the creation of a civilian police review board in the county. The sheriff said at a recent forum that residents can trust him to make the right decisions when his office receives complaints about police officers or sheriff deputies.

A civilian review board is not needed because he is "held accountable by the citizens of the county anyway because I'm an elected official," Chapman said.

In 2017, a civilian review board was created in Fairfax County largely in response to public outrage over a lack of transparency and accountability surrounding the 2013 shooting death of unarmed Springfield man John Geer by a Fairfax County police officer. However, the Fairfax panel is not permitted to conduct independent investigations.

In its news release, the LCSO listed its reasons for not switching to a "politically-directed" police department.

According to the sheriff's office, a move to a police department would significantly reduce Virginia State Police presence and assistance in Loudoun County. A change would require an additional $10 million in county funds for new hires and replacement of vehicles and uniforms, the office said. In addition, all liability would be assumed by Loudoun County with no limit on lawsuits, which are now limited by state law to $1.5 million, according to the LCSO.