3 Vienna Police Recruits Graduate From Criminal Justice Academy

VIENNA, VA — Three Town of Vienna Police recruits graduated from the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Academy on Aug. 12, according to the police department.

Officer Emily Lichtenberg, Officer David Reed and Officer Patrick Crandall graduated from the 78th session of the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Academy. The graduation ceremony was held at the Centreville Baptist Church.

Lichtenberg grew up in the Northern Virginia and graduated from Freedom High School in Loudoun County. A hockey player who also played, lacrosse and cross country running, she comes from a law enforcement family, with both parents retired from the Arlington County Police Department.

Reed comes from Rockville, Maryland. He attended Montgomery College and served as a volunteer EMT with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue. In his spare time, Reed enjoys reading.

Crandall is from northern Pennsylvania and spent most of his adult life in western New York. He attended Binghamton University in New York and received a degree in economics. He previously worked with disabled adults, in construction demolition and financial services planning management. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, martial arts and motorcycles. At the Criminal Justice Academy, performance and achievement of the highest GPA earned him the Academic Director Award.

The academy trains new and veteran officers from Vienna, Herndon, Fairfax County Police, the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office and Fairfax County Fire Marshal's Office. The Vienna Police Department has a full-time instructor on staff at the training facility.

The graduation followed a six-month training session for recruits to be trained in all police procedures with over 920 hours of instruction. Some parts of the curriculum include 320 hours of academic studies, 94 hours of firearms training, 84 hours of emergency vehicle operation, 110 hours of physical training and 130 hours of defensive tactics training.

Police officer candidates typically go through an application process with a written test, background check, medical examination, polygraph test and various interviews. An average of 2 percent of applicants make it through the hiring process and are invited to attend the basic recruit training session.

Over the next 12 weeks, the new police officers will be assigned a field training instructor to observe their performance in officer safety, traffic enforcement, interaction with citizens, report writing, investigations of crimes, vehicular accidents and other parts of law enforcement duties.

Pictured in the photo below from left to right: Deputy Chief Daniel Janickey, Capt. Thomas Taylor, Officer Emily Lichtenberg, Colonel James Morris, Officer David Reed, Officer Patrick Crandall and Captain Tu Farhan.