4 New Police Officers Joining Vienna Police Department

VIENNA, VA — Four graduates of the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Academy are joining the Vienna Police Department.

Officers Christopher Garcia, Carrie Armstrong, Jason Carne and Aimal Mayar graduated on Dec. 19 from the 79th session of the criminal justice academy. The academy trains new and veteran officers from Vienna, Herndon, Fairfax County Police, Fairfax County Sheriff's Office and the Fairfax County Fire Marshal's office.

The officers' graduation from the academy follows six months of training in police procedures with over 920 hours of instruction. Some aspects 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. The Vienna Police Department has a full-time instructor at the training facility.

Before attending the academy, recruits go through an application process with a background check, medical examination, polygraph test and various interviews. On average, about 2 percent of applicants are invited to attend the recruit process for a police officer.

Following their graduation, Garcia, Armstrong, Carne and Mayar will be assigned a field training instructor to observe and guide their performance over the next 12 weeks. The instructor will guide the officers' in officer safety, traffic enforcement, interaction with residents, report writing, investigations of crimes, vehicular accidents and more aspects of police officer duties.