Police Chief gives 100-day report to Town Council

By Audrey Carpenter

New Leesburg Police Chief Thea Pirnat submitted her 100-day report to the Leesburg Town Council in November which assessed the department’s professional, operational, administrative, management and interagency coordination effectiveness, along with crime patterns, public information and community outreach efforts.

The assessment was conducted from July 24, when she began her new role, through Nov. 1. Prior to starting with the Leesburg Police Department, she was with the Fairfax County Police Department for 23 years. She replaced LPD Police Chief Gregory Brown who retired in December 2022.

A copy of the report can be viewed under the Council Meeting Packets tab for Nov. 13-14, 2023:
https://www.leesburgva.gov/government/mayor-council/council-documents-legislation.

Chief Pirnat spent the first 100 days gathering information about the LPD from police and Town employees, public safety partners, stakeholders, community members, and available internal data. The report provides data related to staffing demographics, attrition and vacancy rates, crimes and calls for service, officer productivity, and projected staffing needs.

The report outlines some immediate changes that have been made to policy, equipment, special programs, and to general LPD administration, and additionally provides information related to
compensation and benefits for consideration by the Town’s administration.

The LPD currently has 87 sworn positions and 22 non-sworn positions. Sworn positions include command, patrol, K9, detectives, training, recruiting, school resource officers, traffic, and property and evidence. Non-sworn positions include dispatch, records, accreditation, information technology, and crime analyst, according to the report.

In 2021 and 2022, the LPD department lost 30 sworn officers from its force, but was able to make up for that loss by hiring 25 new officers between 2022-2023. There are six recruits in the current academy class scheduled for graduation this month, with another five hired for the class starting in January 2024, the report said.

Upon graduation, recruits spend four months in field training and securing additional certifications with both classroom and scenario-based training. The LPD won’t feel the impact of the graduating officers until April 2024 and October 2024 because upon completion of their post-academy training, the new officers will still need the support and guidance of more senior officers and supervisors, the report indicated.

The LPD would like to recruit more female police officers and has committed to signing the 30×30 Pledge with a Spring 2024 Cohort to commit to having 30% female recruits in police academies by the year 2030.

Patrol operations have been impacted heavily with vacancies at a 32% vacancy rate. This required the abolishment of the evening shift which has led to officers working 12-hour shifts. Chief Pirnat said the LPD plans to return to three patrol shifts as staffing permits.

The LPD has added sworn and non-sworn positions with the growth of the Town’s population over decades, but the increase has not kept up with previous ratios of sworn officers as compared to the number of residents. The ratio of sworn officers per 1,000 residents has steadily decreased over the last couple of decades, she said.

Chief Pirnat cited a 2019 U.S. Department of Justice Report which reported the average ratio of sworn officers per 1,000 residents at 2.4 nationally. The LPD is currently at 1.78 officers per 1,000 based on a population size of 48,908. To meet the national average, LPD sworn officers would need to increase from 87 to 117, and non-sworn staffing from 22 to 50 positions.

When examining the first three quarters of 2023, the LPD stands to be projected at 20.8% higher on criminal calls, 18.5% higher on service type calls, and 33.1% higher on traffic type calls as compared to the average of the previous three years, Chief Pirnat explained.

However, if the calls for service for 2023 trend at the current rate, then 2023 will also be higher than just 2022 call volume, which no longer has the same pandemic effect of the previous years. Criminal calls would still be up 8.1%, service calls up 23.1%, and traffic calls are up 54.3%.

“Traffic complaints are one of the most often voiced concerns of community members,” Chief Pirnat stated. The nearly 3,000 warnings issued so far this year is double all of 2022 and 55% over the three-year average.

In the Traffic Unit, two of the five positions are vacant and another officer will retire this month. Despite the staffing shortage, the department has seen an increase in the number of citations, warnings, and DWI arrests this year.

The LPD will pursue grant funding opportunities for the addition of an in-house Victim Advocate fulltime position to support providing services for victims of domestic assault and sexual violence.

In 2024, the LPD will better track shoplifting to not only include the total number of incidents and the location, but also the total dollar value of reported loss, the total dollar value recovered through law enforcement investigation/intervention, and the category of items being stolen, Chief Pirnat said.

The LPD will better track overdose data as it pertains to victim demographics and incidents in the schools to help with early identification and possible public information campaigns.

An indoor firearms training facility complete with a classroom, gun cleaning room, and indoor plumbing should be added to the Town’s Capital Improvement Plan, the report indicated.

The LPD would like to have the patrol staffing to support K9 officers being removed from traditional patrol squads. They would only be dispatched as a back-up officer or for duties specific to K9 officers. The K9 program consists of three dogs and handlers, but a fourth dog and handler are recommended with training in explosive detection.

Currently the LPD is undergoing a $26.5 million renovation project expected to be completed in late 2025 to enhance and enlarge the 27-year-old building’s facilities and amenities while modernizing the campus. Construction began Sept. 22.

The project will further build out existing locker rooms, including significant expansions to the women’s locker room. The plans also include additional office space, interview rooms and an expanded parking lot for police cruisers.

A mezzanine level will also be built in the one-story building, where a fitness center will be added for police officers and staff to use. Renovations will include improvements to the electrical room and existing facilities, according to Dewberry Architecture in Leesburg, the project’s design contractor.