Effective Policing, Not Profiling

By Frank Holtz, Chairman, Loudoun County Crime Commission

In recent weeks we have witnessed a reckless effort by anti-public safety activists to undermine the outstanding work of Sheriff Chapman and our Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) in keeping Loudoun the safest locality in the metro Washington area—and one of the safest major counties in the nation.

First, anti-public safety activists distort what the LCSO is doing with ICE.

The LCSO does not participate in ICE enforcement activities, nor are any county taxpayer resources being used to assist ICE in our community. Sheriff Chapman has repeatedly made clear that the only involvement the LCSO has with ICE is with respect to persons taken into custody for a criminal offense unrelated to immigration.  

Deputies have no idea what a person’s immigration status is until they have been arrested on unrelated charges and taken to the Adult Detention Center in Leesburg. Only then do jail deputies learn of a person’s immigration status when following the standard protocol of making queries to other law enforcement agencies about outstanding warrants or detainers. 

If ICE wants the person arrested, they have the option of issuing a detainer and picking up that person upon his or her scheduled release from jail. Loudoun has been doing it this way many years, regardless of who occupies the White House. If, and only if ICE cannot immediately pick that person up, they will now have up to an additional 48 hours to do so. Releasing criminal aliens back into our community to risk further criminal activity instead of releasing them to ICE would be irresponsible of a sheriff whose job it is to keep Loudoun’s citizens safe.

Second, some falsely assert that some form of “profiling” is happening in Loudoun.

The truth is that LCSO deputies respond to calls for service and patrol where the greatest number of traffic incidents and crimes occur. Those numbers are highest in eastern Loudoun where a greater number of resources are allocated. This is a responsible, pragmatic, analytics-driven and cost-effective utilization of County resources—a practice that is making all of us safer and something we should be thankful for. 

Traffic stops result from traffic violations or crimes in progress. Nobody is targeted as deputies almost never know who they are stopping in a car until they walk up and greet the driver. Subsequent searches are conducted lawfully, and only if there is evidence of a crime. Recent searches have resulted in the recovery of drugs, weapons, and even an automatic weapon with a 50-round clip. These actions help prevent further crimes and have nothing to do with a person’s age, ethnic or racial group. This is good, proactive policing, not profiling.

Sheriff Chapman has spent more than 47 years in law enforcement working here in Loudoun and around the globe with the sole mission of advancing public safety. He was recently voted Loudoun Now’s Favorite Public Servant for the fifth year in a row and named National Sheriff of the Year in 2023 Loudoun’s crime rate is the lowest in the region, and the LCSO’s professional standards are among the highest. We are blessed to have him at the helm of our Sheriff’s Office for the past 15 years.