Update, July 15, 11:45 p.m.: 

Lawmakers in Loudoun County on Tuesday scrapped a proposed referendum on creating a county police force, and will instead pursue a study on its law enforcement amid a broader look at the structure of its local government.

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall (D) told DCist/WAMU she had shifted her plan to overhaul the county’s law enforcement after she received hundreds of constituent responses.

“About 80% said, ‘I could see a police department but I want to see more on the funding mechanism,” Randall said. “I believe it’s incumbent on us to stop and listen.”

The county will discuss the study at next week’s meeting.

Original: 

Voters in Loudoun County could be asked whether a new police force should be created to take over many of the law enforcement duties currently handled by an elected sheriff, a proposal the current sheriff has derided as a “power grab.”

Under the proposal the Democratic-controlled Board of Supervisors is set to take up on July 21, voters would be asked to strip the current sheriff-led department of many of its responsibilities, and instead place law enforcement in the hands of a new police department led by a police chief. The sheriff’s office, currently led by Republican Sheriff Mike Chapman, would be left managing the county jail and court services.

“It’s a lot more transparent,” said County Board Supervisor Mike Turner (D-Ashburn) of the proposal, which has drawn support from the local chapter of the NAACP. “The police chief is a lot more accountable, operations are a lot more transparent and the officers operate within a defined human resources system that’s far more equitable and non-partisan than the current system we have.”

Currently, a county sheriff is elected for four-year terms to head an office that is not subject to the same levels of oversight as police departments.

But the proposal has drawn opposition from Chapman, who was first elected in 2011. He says restructuring law enforcement in the county is “a disastrous idea” and “a power grab.”

“We answer directly to the citizens that we serve, all 413,000, and everybody has an equal voice in what we do here,” Chapman told DCist/WAMU.

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, all law enforcement agencies in Virginia have come under renewed scrutiny. The Fairfax County Police Department released statistics showing that Black residents were far more likely to be involved in use-of-force incidents than white residents. Virginia lawmakers say they will discuss reform of criminal justice and policing during this summer’s special session, and they have begun taking public comment.

Loudoun County’s law enforcement is an anomaly in Northern Virginia, says criminal justice expert William Pelfrey of Virginia Commonwealth University. In Arlington, Prince William and Fairfax Counties, police departments work to complement the sheriff’s offices. However, said Pelfrey, sheriff’s offices responsible for law enforcement were common across the state.

Pelfrey added that sheriff’s offices overall tend to have less training on conflict de-escalation than police departments. Moreover, their independence can shield them from scrutiny regarding misbehavior. “So a sheriff doesn’t really answer to anybody, whereas a police chief has to answer to elected or appointed officials,” Pelfrey said.

In a July press release, Chapman touted his department’s award-winning performance in reducing crime and its high public approval rating.

Turner did not deny the sheriff’s success or popularity. However, he said, the county has added hundreds of thousands of new residents in recent years, and law enforcement should modernize to keep up. For example, the sheriff’s office is not required to release racial data on law enforcement, and there is no process for civilian review of incidents.

When asked, Chapman referred to two incidents of excessive force over his nine years in office, both of which resulted in deputies leaving their jobs. Chapman could not provide statistics on the race of people stopped by police or subject to use of force. Regarding civilian review, Chapman pointed to elections as a method of accountability.

“Our review board is the citizens that we serve,” Chapman said.

Loudoun NAACP President Pastor Michelle Thomas says she supports creating a police department as a vehicle for bringing transparency.

“We are asking that our Sheriff’s Office is not held accountable [only] every four years,” Thomas told DCist/WAMU. “We need him to be accountable 365 days a year, not every four years.”

The Board of Supervisors will vote July 21 on whether to petition the Circuit Court to put a law enforcement referendum on the upcoming general election ballot. Turner said he is open to moving that referendum to November 2021, providing more time for lawmakers to examine the issue.

Republican Supervisor Caleb Kershner (R-Catoctin) said he would vote against the motion on either date. “If it’s not broke, why fix it?” he said, adding that he was concerned about the cost of creating a new police department, although he said he would support a study on the matter.

Chapman says he plans to attend the hearing to defend his office and he expects the motion to backfire on its Democratic supporters. Still, he says he was surprised to hear the NAACP supported shrinking his responsibilities.

“We have pretty good relations with the NAACP, and it’s unfortunate to hear that, because we’ve worked very well with them,” Chapman said. “I’m kind of disappointed and I think they’re getting a lot of political pressure. When you look at what’s happening nationally, I think they’re looking at this, as this is a right time to try to get something passed before people really know what’s going on here.”

Kalfani Ture, assistant professor of criminal justice at Quinnipiac University and a former police officer, cautioned against outsized expectations based on changing the structure of the department.

“When you shift from a sheriff’s department to a county police department, what does that look like? Do you just fire everybody?” he said. “It isn’t as dramatic as we think it is. It is just a reabsorption of those who are already in law enforcement.”

This story has been updated with news of the county’s changing plans.