Loudoun Crime Commission

11/27/2020

Leesburg Police Department

We are thankful for Carolyn & Dawn and are also thankful for Loudoun-Dulles FOP Lodge 69 for donating Thanksgiving meals to our staff today. We are also thankful for our officers & dispatchers who are serving and protecting #LeesburgVA today. #Community #Thanksgiving2020 🦃

11/24/2020

Marine Toys for Tots Foundation

Did you know that Ollie's Bargain Outlet is an official #toysfortots drop off location? Help fill the box and bring the joy of Christmas to less fortunate children in your community! 🎄🎁

11/24/2020

Leesburg Police Department

Last night we had the pleasure of handing out our annual free Thanksgiving meals to our #LeesburgVA community members in need.

This annual event provides lower income, single parent families with small children a warm holiday meal. Due to COVID-19 the individually packaged meals were handed out drive-through style instead of being served at a community event.

The Thanksgiving meal, which has occurred annually for over a decade, was a huge success this year due to the generosity of the volunteers from the Police Department & the Leesburg Police Citizens Support Team, volunteers from INMED USA, as well as volunteers from the St. James' Episcopal Church Leesburg, VA. We would also like to thank Deli South for providing their kitchen space to prepare the meals and Country Buick-GMC for their generous donation.

#Community #Thanksgiving2020

11/23/2020

Marine Corps Commercial: "Toys for Tots -- Guard Duty"

Loudounmarines.org 2020 Campaign.

A Marine Corps commercial from 1997, "Toys for Tots -- Guard Duty."

10/12/2020

Gary Clemens

The Virginia Court Clerks Association (VCCA) did not hold its annual convention this year due to COVID-19. The VCCA did conduct a virtual election of officers recently and an oath of office ceremony was hosted by Clerk of Circuit Court Barrett Chappell (Dinwiddie). The Honorable Bobby Wrenn (former Clerk from Greensville Co.) officiated the swearing in ceremony. Congratulations to the following newly elected VCCA officers who took their oath of office as officers: President - Llezelle Dugger (Charlottesville), 1st VP - Kristen Nelson (York), 2nd VP - Ed Jewett (Richmond), 3rd VP - Mona Foley (Williamsburg), Secretary - Kelly Duffy (Bristol), Treasurer - Rick Francis (Southhampton), Parliamentarian - Teresa Dobbins (Powhatan).
I have served as an officer or executive committee member of the VCCA for 16 years so I know the dedication and commitment necessary to serve as an officer. Thank you all for agreeing to serve the VCCA and all Virginians who receive valuable services from the 120 circuit court clerks' offices in Virginia.

09/21/2020

Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

Arsenal of Democracy Flyover

On Friday, September 25th, 2020, join us to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE Day).

09/09/2020

Members and friends of the Loudoun Crime Commission – Greetings!

**** We will resume our Luncheon schedule beginning September 11th ****

On behalf of Chairman Rich Claar and acting Chairman Lloyd Reese and our Directors, thank you for your continued support of the LCC and our work to educate the community, and to maintain a connection between the public and Law Enforcement.

You are invited to attend the September 11, 2020 luncheon. COVID-19 related social distancing, (bring your favorite mask while not eating). Adjustments to the way lunch will be served will be made to ensure a safe environment (e.g. tables and place settings will be distanced, meals will be served at the table, serving staff will wear masks and gloves, and masks for guests while not eating are required while socializing). Of course, each of you will have the option to social distance and to socialize (or not) as you wish.

Our speaker will be: Special Agent Bailey, FBI assigned to a team dealing with Homegrown Violent Extremism in Northern Virginia.

BIO: Special Agent Bailey entered the FBI in 2008 after serving as a collegiate coach for approximately 12 years. On entering the FBI, he was assigned to the San Diego Field Office where he investigated public corruption, financial crime, human intelligence, and counterterrorism. In 2015 Agent Bailey took a supervisory role in the Counterterrorism Division where he managed counterterrorism cases run by the Washington Field Office. In 2016 he was promoted to Unit Chief in the Directorate of Intelligence in Washington DC. Most recently he was assigned as a field supervisor in the Washington DC Field Office where he supervised the National Capital Response Squad and currently supervises a squad which investigates Homegrown Violent Extremism in Northern Virginia.

This event will be at 1230 pm on Friday, September 11th, at the Belmont Country Club. Doors open at noon for gathering and socializing.

We hope all LCC members will attend and invite their friends to take this opportunity to meet and interact with our speaker, Loudoun's law enforcement, business and community leaders, educators and our valued concerned citizens. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Frank Holtz
Vice Chairman, LCC

09/04/2020

Books for Kids!

Books for Kids!

100% of your gift today will be used to deliver books and educational materials to the children and teachers who desperately need them.

08/16/2020

8/10/2020
OPINION: Loudoun Crime Commission – Supporting Law Enforcement and Peaceful Protest

The Loudoun Crime Commission, through its Board of Directors, offers this statement as part of the public discourse involving criminal justice reform, the police “defunding” commentary, the peaceful protests and lawless rioting we have all witnessed in cities across the U.S. in recent weeks.
The Loudoun Crime Commission is a private, non-profit, charitable 501(c)3 organization established in 2005 as an opportunity for citizens, businesses, law enforcement, educators, students, elected officials, government representatives, and others, to collaborate and share their unique perspectives, experiences and insights promoting safe communities for our families throughout Loudoun County. The Commission embraces an anti-crime mission and has adopted the motto “Fighting crime is every citizen’s business.”

Since Mr. George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25th, protests have been conducted nationwide, with extensive national media coverage amid calls for criminal justice reform and police “defunding.”

These protests generally began as groups of concerned citizens exercising their right to peacefully assemble, while ostensibly protesting alleged police abuses and racism. It appears peaceful protests certainly have occurred in many cities and towns across the country. Unfortunately, many of those peaceful protests have devolved into acts of civil disobedience and even extreme mob violence resulting
in personal injury to both citizens and law enforcement personnel, the tragic loss of life, and the destruction of personal and government property valued in the millions. It has rocked the Nation and scarred many of our cities.

Hundreds of local and state police officers across the country have been injured, some severely, ending careers and impacting the officers’ families. Injuries sustained have included vision loss from lasers, broken limbs, serious lacerations, blunt force head trauma from thrown bricks and frozen water bottles, hearing loss from exploding professional-grade fireworks directed at officers, officers being struck by moving vehicles, and other medical concerns.

Several officers have been killed in the line of duty during
these protests and riots, including a Police Captain in St. Louis who was shot and killed by rioters while attempting to protect a pawnshop from looters on June 2nd. A Federal Protective Service officer was also shot to death at a U.S. courthouse in Oakland, California on May 29th during protests. Other federal officers have been injured while protecting federal sites and preventing the arson and destruction of U.S. courthouses. Tragically, innocent children have also been caught up in the violence, including an 8 year-old girl shot and killed near a fast-food restaurant and BLM protesting site on July 4th weekend in Atlanta. Also, a 16 year-old boy was shot and killed in Seattle’s so called “Autonomous Zone” while police access to that area was restricted. There have been other child deaths as well associated with the riot-related violence in our communities.

There is also the wanton destruction of businesses, police precincts and vehicles, personal property loss, and government property damage totaling in the many millions. It has recently been reported that public officials in Portland, Oregon have posted an initial property loss estimate of $23 million resulting from the protests and riots in recent weeks. The City of Minneapolis is reporting losses totaling approximately $1.0 billion, and Seattle is reporting $12.6 million spent just on police overtime costs. These initial figures in those three cities suggests staggering dollar losses nationwide resulting from damages sustained during the protests and riots.

Some in our communities have continued to call for the defunding, dismantling or abolishment of police departments. They do so while disregarding the reality that our cities and towns across America rely on the committed men and women of law enforcement, and our intelligence community, every minute of every day, to ensure our national security and public safety. Our law enforcement agencies are called upon to respond to every kind of emergency imaginable to save lives and property, with officers routinely putting their lives at risk. The rioters who have ravaged some of our cities in recent weeks conveniently ignore the irony that, the thousands of men and women who have taken an oath to protect us, many of whom have been injured in recent weeks and some who gave their all, did so while actually protecting the constitutional rights of the “protesters” who violently attacked them. This extreme lawlessness, mob violence, and assault on law enforcement must end. We must peacefully resolve our differences and work together as citizens and community leaders to address any concerns regarding criminal justice reform and other important issues.

To be clear, racism in any form is utterly abhorrent, and the right to peacefully assemble and peacefully protest is fundamental to our democracy as a means of calling out and addressing many of the inequities in our country. Likewise, criminal acts by sworn law enforcement officers and public officials are equally intolerable and any such allegations must be swiftly and fully investigated and referred as the evidence dictates to prosecutors and the courts. Anything less than that is, again, abhorrent, and intolerable. Just as we support the right to peacefully assemble and protest, we also steadfastly support, defend, and believe in the rule of law as being fundamental to our republic. And we will always support, defend, and believe in our Nation’s law enforcement professionals, who must uphold and obey the law as they enforce the law. We count on those men and women in law enforcement at all levels of government to keep us safe; to reach us quickly and skillfully in our darkest hours when our lives are threatened, and our property is being taken or destroyed. They are the peacekeepers among us, and, at the very least, we owe them our loyal support and our deep gratitude. They must also earn our confidence and always be accountable for their actions. The vast majority of men and women who have taken the oath consider it a great honor to professionally serve as our country’s law enforcement officers, and they take their responsibilities very seriously, protecting and defending all of us to the best of their ability.

“Defunding” or abolishing our police departments and other law enforcement agencies is absurd on its face. That is not sensible for the world we live in and we can never expect to have law and order in our communities without well-trained, well-equipped, highly professional law enforcement organizations.

Consider these statistics posted online by various government accountability sites, police departments
and public news sources:

- The median number of sworn law enforcement officers in cities large and small across America ranges between 15 to 20 officers per 10,000 citizens. Loudoun County has approximately 17 sworn personnel per 10,000 citizens; many departments nationally, have far fewer officers per capita. Also, these are sworn personnel deployed across their departments in patrol divisions, detective units, training,
forensics, and other assignments. The point is that, only a percentage of those officers can be out on the street in uniform and in marked units patrolling their communities twenty-four hours a day. It should therefore be clear that reducing their ranks makes no sense if our collective goal is to improve community policing in America, a recognized way to reduce crime.

- A total of 1,627 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during the past 10 years, an average of one death every 54 hours or 163 per year. There were 135 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2019. Thousands more were seriously injured.

- Currently, 22,217 names of fallen officers are engraved on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. There are 1,181 federal officers listed on the Memorial, as well as 720 correctional officers and 44 military law enforcement officers. Some 365 female: officers’:
names are engraved on the Memorial, with 11 female officers killed in the line of duty in 2019.

- During the recent July 2020 protests and riots in Portland, the homicide rate for that month was the highest it has been in over 30 years.

- Shootings in Atlanta spiked 265% during anti-police protests and riots in June and July.

- The Chicago PD reported 31 murders in a 6-day period from July 6th through July 12th, a 417% increase over the 6 murders recorded during the same week in 2019.

- As for police retirements accelerating across the country with agencies and personnel feeling they are
under attack from all sides, NYPD has reported a 411% increase in retirement applications for the first week of July 2020.

Our Nation cannot tolerate racial abuses and discrimination in any form, and it is appropriate that we hold our law enforcement officers and agencies to the highest level of professionalism and conduct. They must always be held accountable for their actions, legally and ethically.

We as citizens need to take responsibility as well, to achieve and maintain safe communities for our families and the most vulnerable among us. As citizens, it is our duty to elect and hold accountable our local, state, and national leaders who should create sensible laws and the policies that support their proper implementation. Police enforce laws, they do not make laws; elected officials create our laws and they must empower law enforcement to implement them – or these same officials must take responsibility to change them. They must also answer for failures of implementation. If politicians do not ensure adequate protections are in place to keep our communities safe, our citizens must act in the voting booth, not lawlessly riot in the street. As our motto state: “Fighting crime is every citizen’s business.”

Criminal justice reform is a conversation we should, of course, be having in this country. It is an extremely complex issue requiring thoughtful, experienced, insightful interactions between a variety of stakeholders and experts working toward the common goal of always improving our agencies and processes. Rather than defunding or abolishing our country’s law enforcement departments and agencies, forcing experienced law enforcement professionals to resign or retire when they are needed most, we must provide them with whatever support is needed to ensure they are able to recruit across their communities, properly select, fully screen, and effectively train top-level candidates who will meet the demands placed on today’s law enforcement professionals.

These are perilous times, nationally and globally, and we all need to be at our best.

08/02/2020

Leesburg Police Department

Thank you Walmart Leesburg for providing our officers with these cups which share your support of law enforcement. We appreciate each of our many #CommunityPartners!

06/29/2020

Gun Violence Is Up 358% In NYC Amid Calls To Defund Police

Gun Violence Is Up 358% In NYC Amid Calls To Defund Police

Violent crime has also spiked in Democrat run cities including Chicago and Minneapolis.

06/19/2020

The Loudoun Crime Commission Vice Chairman, Frank Holtz, presented a scholarship award to Maykala Davis for her outstanding accomplishments in the Administration of Justice program at the Academies of Loudoun. Ms. Davis is intrested in pursuing a career in criminal justice and public service.

We sincerely congratulate her on being this year's recipient and know that it is well-deserved.

06/15/2020

Congratulations.

Four New Leesburg Police Officers Graduate the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy’s Basic Law Enforcement School

Leesburg, VA (June 15, 2020) – Today, four new Leesburg Police Officers graduated from the 142nd Session of the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy’s (NVCJTA) Basic Law Enforcement School. The NVCJTA, which is a nationally accredited law enforcement training academy, provides basic training for police officers and deputy sheriffs in compliance with the standards required by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). Officers Mercy Andrade, Todd Cockerham, Gregory Graves, and Chelsea Massie successfully completed more than 700 hours of basic law enforcement training during the 20-week program, which covers a multitude of topics through a combination of lecture and practical exercises.

“These four new officers enter into the profession at a time where their bravery is not only required when putting themselves in harms way, but at a time where the act of putting on the badge itself calls for unassailable courageousness. Regardless, they are ready to serve,” said Leesburg Police Chief Greg Brown.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this session’s graduation ceremony is being held over multiple dates this summer to allow for proper recognition of all graduates. We are pleased to announce that Leesburg Officer Andrade sang the National Anthem at today’s graduation ceremony, and will do so for each of Session 142’s subsequent graduation ceremonies. Participating agencies of the NVCJTA include Arlington County Police Department, Arlington County Sheriff’s Office, City of Alexandria Police Department, City of Alexandria Sheriff’s Office, Fairfax City Police Department, George Mason University Police Department, Leesburg Police Department, Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, City of Manassas Police Department, Manassas Park Police Department, Metro Transit Police Department, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police, Northern Virginia Community College Police Department, and the Town of Purcellville Police Department. On behalf of the men and women of Leesburg Police, congratulations to all of the Session 142 graduates!

Our new officers will now be placed in a structured 12-week field training program with seasoned field training officers. Upon successful completion of the field training program, they will each be certified for solo patrol. Please welcome our newest officers as you see them around town!

(Photo L-R: Officer Graves, Officer Massie, Chief Brown, LPD Academy Instructor Officer Zebrine, Officer Cockerham, Officer Andrade)

Media Contact:

Officer Michael Drogin, Public Information Officer

Email: [email protected], 703-771-4538

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