Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Safety & Security Committee, Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Place: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 1h 27m (video)
Official meeting video (Fairfax County): https://video.fairfaxcounty.gov/player/clip/4110
Official Board of Supervisors page (Fairfax County): https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/boardofsupervisors/

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-27. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:03] We're going to start the meeting here in just about a minute here. If we can get folks to take their seats, please. We've got most of the members back from lunch. So I will now call our safety and security meeting to order for April 7, 2026.

[00:00:24] And delighted to have a number of presentations that we'll be receiving first from the Office of Independent Police Auditor. So we'll have Richard Schott, which is kind of a surprise to say he'll be presenting his last annual report to the board, which I will say I appreciate the work that you've done over the years. It's been a pleasure working with you now for six years as the chair of the Public Safety Committee and just wish you well in your future endeavors. Second, we'll have a presentation from the Police-Civilian Review Panel, the CRP. That presentation will be done by Craig Miles,

[00:01:02] unfortunately, we will not be able to have Dr. Garner do the presentation today. He is okay, but he is not able to be here and will be accompanied by David Abrams, who is the vice chair. David Adam, too, is the vice chair of the committee.

[00:01:18] So with that, let me turn it over to Richard Schott. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Lusk, and good afternoon, supervisors. I appreciate the opportunity to present my 2025 annual report. During 2025, my office had a total, at any given time, of 111 active cases.

[00:01:47] This slide depicts the types of cases that were active at any point during the calendar year. But to put that number into better context, the Office of the Independent Police Auditor, or the OIPA, ended 2024, the year prior, with 77 active cases. 34 new cases were opened during 2025, which put the total at 111. But by the end of the year, we had reported out on 40

[00:02:20] incidents, which left us at the end of 2025 with 71 active case reviews. Of those 34 new cases in 2025. Two involved an officer-involved shooting. Three were a death or serious injury incident.

[00:02:40] One involved an in-custody of the Fairfax County Police Department death, and the remaining 28 resulted from a complaint regarding a use of force. Thirteen investigations were monitored by the OIPA, and those included six officer-involved shootings, an additional officer-involved shooting but of a domesticated animal, one death of an individual while in the custody of the FCPD

[00:03:12] and five quote-unquote serious injury cases. The caseload last year included a total of 98 FCPD investigations into complaints about force, 90 of which were submitted directly to the FCPD and the remaining eight were submitted directly to the auditor's office. The type of force allegation in these complaint cases varied, with the most common type of force used or alleged

[00:03:46] being takedowns, assaults, someone being grabbed or held, someone being struck, and finally someone being forced to cuff. 30 individuals alleged excessive force or injury but provided no specific details about the type of force allegedly used on them. Again, by the end of 2025, my office had closed 40 cases, 25 of which were what we have referred to during the past several years as

[00:04:23] retroactive reviews of complaints that were transferred from the FCPD to the auditor in May of 2023. I'm happy to report today that as of December 31st, 2025, that backlog of retroactive reviews has now been eliminated. At the end of the calendar year, my office had 71 active cases remaining. Those included three officer-involved shootings, but I can tell you that two of those

[00:04:55] have been reported out on during 2026, one in custody death, and four death or serious injury investigations. Turning now to officer-involved shootings and injury reviews, in 2025 I completed my review of three officer-involved shootings which had occurred earlier in 2023. In those 2023 officer-involved shootings, I agreed with the FCPD's internal investigative findings that the uses of

[00:05:34] deadly force were objectively reasonable and complied with both Virginia law and departmental policy. In each case, the officers reacted based on their probable cause to believe that they are someone else faced an immediate threat of death or a serious injury. In the May 2023 incident, two officers shot a man who had pinned an officer inside his own cruiser after they responded to a

[00:06:06] call from that officer who reported the man was trying to take his gun. In the April 2023 incident, an FCPD officer responded to I-95 to assist Virginia State police troopers who were pursuing a man for abducting his female passenger. When the FCPD officer arrived on the scene, the man had crashed his car into the woods off of I-95 and was actively shooting at state troopers.

[00:06:39] The FCPD officer fired four shots while the man was firing rounds from inside of his crashed vehicle. The man survived and is facing numerous criminal charges. In the February 2023 incident, Two Eisen's urban team members pursued a man on foot for allegedly shoplifting sunglasses from Nordstrom's.

[00:07:05] A sergeant chased him into an undeveloped area with thick underbrush and ultimately fired two rounds. After hearing those rounds, the second officer saw the first officer on the ground and fired one shot from his weapon.

[00:07:20] Although both officers were mistaken in their belief that the man was armed and posed a danger, Their uses of deadly force were objectively reasonable. Separate from their uses of force, at the time of this incident, the FCPD did not have a foot pursuit policy in place.

[00:07:43] A policy has since been put in place governing foot pursuits. I also completed a review of an officer-involved shooting which involved a domesticated animal after an FCPD SWAT team member fatally shot a dog during the execution of a search warrant in a home in Herndon. I agreed with the FCPD's conclusions in that case that the use of both less lethal and the deadly force on the dog complied with FCPD's policy. I also reviewed

[00:08:21] an investigation into a serious injury that occurred when an FCPD officer pursued a man on foot who had an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear on a drug charge. The officer deployed his ECW electronic control weapon or taser on the man as the man descended down a flight of stairs to a parking garage. The man fell over and struck his head on the concrete floor below. The FCPD concluded that the officer violated its ECW policy in deploying the taser without considering the

[00:09:00] likelihood of injury from being tased while descending the stairs and for using it on a fleeing individual believed to have committed a non-violent offense. I agreed with the FCPD's conclusions in that regard. In all five of these reviews, I found that the FCPD's internal investigations met the standards of being complete, thorough, objective, impartial, and accurate.

[00:09:29] However, I did make recommendations to the police department after my review of the officer-involved shooting that occurred in Tyson's Corner and the officer-involved shooting of the K-9, and I will return to those recommendations later in this presentation. In addition to the five reports just outlined, in 2025 my office published reports or memos on reviews of FCPD investigations

[00:10:00] into 35 complaints of force submitted to either the FCPD or to the OIPA. In the majority of those investigations into complaints made, the FCPD found that force had been used, but that it did not violate its general order 540 covering the use of force. In six of those investigations, the force was found to be in compliance, but one or more non-use-of-force policy violations or

[00:10:35] infractions were identified and ultimately addressed by the FCPD. In the remaining eight investigations, the allegations that force had been used were determined to be unfounded, meaning that force, as defined in General Order 540, had not been used by FCPD officers.

[00:11:00] In 34 of the 35 reviews into complaints, I applied the standards identified by this board to the FCPD investigations and found those investigations to have been complete, thorough, accurate, objective, and impartial. In one review, I did not issue a finding based on those standards. Rather, I agreed with the FCPD's determination that the officers were

[00:11:31] exonerated by technology without conducting a full investigation. After viewing the body-worn camera footage recorded during the event, I agreed with the conclusion that the officers' actions, including the minimal force used, complied with departmental policy, and that there was no need for further investigation. In 2025, I made two new recommendations to the FCPD, and those two

[00:12:07] new recommendations are bolded on the slide. First, after my review of the investigation into the officer-involved shooting of a K-9, I recommended that FCPD General Order 5407E be changed to include both domesticated and non-domesticated animals so that it would read as follows.

[00:12:34] Officers may use deadly force to incapacitate domesticated or non-domesticated animals that are attacking or threatening to attack any human or another animal or that appear to be rabid. The second new recommendation followed my review of the Tyson's Corner officer-involved shooting.

[00:12:56] at the time of that shooting of the man allegedly shoplifting, the FCPD did not have a general order addressing foot pursuits. Consequently, there was no policy against which the officer's actions could be judged as far as the pursuit. It should be noted that about the same time that I made this recommendation and published my report on the incident, the FCPD announced a new foot pursuit policy that took effect on April 9, 2025 and is memorialized in General Order 614. My recommendation,

[00:13:35] however, applies to General Order 540, which governs officers' uses of force. FCPD General Order 547B provides that deadly force shall never be used to apprehend a fleeing misdemeanant, in parentheses, unless they pose an imminent threat of serious physical harm or death to the officer or others. Closed quote. In my report on this OIS investigation, I recommended that the

[00:14:10] FCPD eliminate any reference to a fleeing felon or misdemeanant from its use of force general order. Eliminating any reference to when deadly force can be used on fleeing felons and misdemeanants would underscore the requirement that deadly force is only authorized whenever officers have probable cause to believe that a person or his escape poses an imminent danger of death or serious injury to the officer or others. Additionally, the elimination of such language

[00:14:47] should prevent any confusion and criticism that the use of force policy allows for the use of deadly force merely because someone is fleeing, which the police department's policy simply does not do. Also during 2025, the FCPD provided me with a status update on four earlier recommendations I had made, and these are also provided on this slide. The FCPD has implemented, implemented,

[00:15:22] excuse me, at least in part two of these earlier recommendations. The first was for the FCPD to engage in discussion with the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office to allow body-worn camera recording while FCPD officers are in the adult detention center, regardless of whether a use of force is happening or is anticipated. The FCPD has responded that it continues to discuss this topic with the Sheriff's Office, but currently the use of body-worn cameras are limited to situation

[00:16:00] when an officer anticipates force may be necessary under the circumstances or because force is already being used. The FCPD has indicated a willingness to continue the discussions with the FC Sheriff's Office and to involve the Fairfax County Magistrate's Office in the discussions as well. The second recommendation that the FCPD has implemented was to equip

[00:16:33] at least some officers and unmarked police vehicles with recording equipment for use in undercover operations. The FCPD has since outfitted its violent crime suppression unit and child exploitation unit detectives with body-worn cameras and has also equipped some undercover vehicles with recording equipment and plans to outfit additional vehicles with recording equipment as they are being purchased. Finally, I would like to highlight some of the

[00:17:10] other activities my office engaged in during 2025. During the year, I participated in two meetings of the FCPD's Performance Review Board, which reviews all designated department critical incidents to assess whether improvements can be made to departmental training, policy, or equipment.

[00:17:33] These reviews examined the officer-involved shooting, which occurred in Fair Oaks on April 23, 2025, and the officer-involved shooting, which occurred in Burke on September 28, 2025.

[00:17:48] During the early stages of 2025, I continued to participate as a non-voting member on the One Fairfax Community Roundtable Foot Pursuit Policy Equity Action Team that provided input and feedback to the police department as it developed a foot pursuit policy.

[00:18:13] And as already stated, the FCPD released its new General Order 614 covering foot pursuits on April 9th, 2025. In 2025, my office also worked closely with the Office of the Police Civilian Review Panel to process complaints from the public.

[00:18:34] Four complaints received during the year included both a force and non-force allegations. Additionally, my staff member and the OPCRP staff member developed and launched a new online complaint form in 2025.

[00:18:51] Now, complaints submitted online are available to both offices simultaneously and are processed according to the types of allegations made in those complaints. Also during 2025, I participated in several community meetings and FCPD functions to inform the community about civilian oversight in the county.

[00:19:15] This included addressing both sessions of the FCPD's Community Policing Academy, presenting with the panel's chair at the NAACP's general membership meeting in August, and addressing several other local and regional audiences interested in policing and oversight in the county.

[00:19:38] My office also engaged with national organizations on issues related to oversight. I was selected by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, or NACOL, to represent the concerns of civilian oversight professionals during an August meeting with representatives from Axon, a company which develops technology products such as body-worn cameras and electronic control weapons.

[00:20:07] My staff and I both attended the NACOL annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, along with panel members, staff members from the OPCRP, and FCPD Internal Affairs Bureau leadership.

[00:20:24] Finally, I concluded my participation on the International Association of Chiefs of Police working group, which had been convened to develop guidance for police departments for their field training officer programs. programs. That group's final model policy and guidance documents were released in October 2025 by the IACP. This concludes my presentation, and I'm more than happy to answer questions you may have at this time. Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Schott, for that very comprehensive and

[00:21:02] thorough presentation. I'll ask a few questions, and then I'll turn it over to my colleagues for their questions as well. If we go back to slide two with the active case review in 2025, just kind of maybe thinking through those cases that are still outstanding, can you maybe give me a sense of your thought?

[00:21:28] I know you won't be here necessarily to be the one that does these case reviews and processes them out, but what do you think is the timing by which we might be able to take care of those remaining. Yeah, I know it's not a backlog anymore, but it's active cases and it does seem a bit high.

[00:21:51] A couple of things make me optimistic that that high number will continue to come down fairly quickly and precipitously. And that is, if you'll remember, at the tail end of 2025, I was able to hire a part-time employee to help me cut through the backlog.

[00:22:12] Right. In a short period of time with no administrative responsibilities, that individual eliminated the backlog of retroactive reviews for both 2019 and 2020. That was approximately 25 reviews.

[00:22:32] And the other reason he was able to cut through those rather quickly is they were all investigations into complaints of lesser degrees of force.

[00:22:50] They were not officer-involved shootings or uses of force that had resulted in death or serious injury. Those reviews, by their nature, go more quickly than something as involved in reviewing an investigation into an officer-involved shooting. I've prioritized things like officer-involved shootings and serious injury or in-custody death reviews, and that's why the lesser serious uses of force have built up in the past because I've been able to cut into those more time-consuming ones.

[00:23:24] I do think that my replacement will be able to cut through the more minor use of force reviews that much quicker, and with the proposed consolidation of offices, my replacement, as you know, will be totally relieved of all administrative duties.

[00:23:45] So I think in the matter of I don't want to box myself into a deadline or the next person into a deadline, but probably within a couple of years, that number should be far less than 71, I believe, is what we ended 2025 with.

[00:24:02] Now, that's a perfect enter, and certainly this is not an indictment on the work that you've done, just so I'm clear on that. I was just trying to get a sense of your thought around the timing for the disposition of those. And then I wanted to ask under, same on page two, under the unspecified, can you give a little more color on those 30 complaints in terms of what they are?

[00:24:29] On the unspecified? Yes. It's usually something along the lines of I was subjected to excessive force and I scraped my knee. And I'm not trying to minimize, you know, force being used or.

[00:24:48] Sure. what we would consider a non-serious injury. But again, those, I believe the number was eight of the 35. Top bar on page two?

[00:25:09] I'm sorry, yes. It was 30. 30 of the 98. Eight during 2025. Correct. Where there are just simply no specifics about what type of force. Were you pushed down to scrape your knee? Were you taken down? Was a foot pursuit involved where you fell and then the force was used?

[00:25:28] So it's literally they make a complaint about either force and or some kind of an injury but provide no specifics. Helpful. And then last question I wanted to ask is on page 5. You mentioned the status was still pending on the domesticated and non-domesticated animal issue with the police department.

[00:25:56] Just wanted to get a sense of what is your thought here in terms of the timing. Do you have any indication of a timing of a decision from the police department on that? Nothing concrete, but I am confident that that recommendation will be incorporated into the general order.

[00:26:15] So, therefore, it will be implemented. The reason I'm confident is a prior iteration of that general order provision included the language. I think it inadvertently got eliminated. I'm just recommending they bring it back.

[00:26:30] Right. And, of course, part of the delay, as has been explained to me, it's not as simple as just inserting a word and saying it's back. They've got to consult the county attorney. It has to go to the policy bureau within the police department to make, and then it has to go to the training folks, any policy change.

[00:26:53] So after those layers of review, I am confident that that change will be implemented. Fairly soon. Okay. That's perfect. I appreciate that response and I will now turn over any questions to Chairman McKay. Thank you very much. First, Richard, I want to thank you for all your years of work. You took on a new position in this county and have done it exceptionally well and I know we're in good hands moving forward and doing so in a, you know, in an effective and efficient way but also completely transparent and you've always been that way.

[00:27:26] So on behalf of the county, I want to thank you for that and really excited about your next challenge. I guess a couple of questions. One, just to follow up on the backlog issue just for a moment. If you took out the officer-involved shootings, as you acknowledged, obviously those are going to take considerably more time to review.

[00:27:48] But if I was a resident filing a complaint today, what are we telling folks in terms of what the expectation is in review time so that they know, you know, how long is it going to take to get a report on a complaint that might come in today that maybe falls in the middle of the spectrum?

[00:28:09] It's not an officer-involved shooting. Realizing every investigation is a little bit different, availability of people, a lot of other factors that go into that. but do we have a goal set, and what would that be? Yes, sir, Chairman McKay, and I appreciate you bringing that up.

[00:28:26] I probably should have mentioned this in response to Supervisor Lusk's earlier questions about prioritization, and that is I do prioritize my review of an investigation when a complaint has been brought to my office directly, And the reason for that is I also review investigations into complaints regarding the use of force that are only made to the police department.

[00:28:54] That complainant isn't even aware that I'm going to be doing a secondary review of the investigation being conducted by the police department. So in a case where the complaint comes to my office, that's when I, my office, I respond to them directly.

[00:29:13] and I advise them, because you made a complaint to me, the complaint is going to the police department for the initial investigation. When that is done, you will be apprised of the results by the police department. I will be made aware of those results, and I will get my report published and a copy sent directly to you. I don't put any number of days or months to that, But they know that I'm, for lack of a better term, on top of their complaint.

[00:29:50] I don't have that direct communication with an individual who has complained only to the police department. But those people will receive notification from the department when the investigation into their complaint is concluded.

[00:30:09] So they're hearing from someone within, I would say, 90 to 120 days, one way or the other. That's kind of how I rank my prioritization. For good or bad, if somebody complains directly to me, I feel a little more compulsion to get the review done that much more quickly.

[00:30:34] Because if the person complains to the PD, they're interacting and receiving communication from the police department directly. Yeah, I mean, I appreciate that. And I think it speaks to the complicated nature sometimes of this. But I do think if we can, as we make a transition, have the administrative support that you have at some point, you know, being able to tell folks this is generally how long these take.

[00:30:58] It's not a commitment, but it just gives people an idea of how long a review is going to take, I think, is important. Because ultimately, one, we know a lot of these are complaints that, you know, can be pretty emotionally charged if people want to be taken seriously and they want to get their issue resolved, even if it's not resolved in the manner in which they would like it to be.

[00:31:19] So there's that part of it. But then the other part is, as you mentioned, between you and the police department, I mean, at the end of the day, it's the county's reputation and responsiveness, right? Most people who complain are not into the intricacies of where it is, who has it. They just look at the county is reviewing it.

[00:31:36] And so I just want us to remain conscious of that. The other question that I have, and then I'm going to end with a real positive. The other question that I have is on the community outreach that you conducted. Were there any key takeaways from that that you wanted to share with us or any common themes you heard from folks, any improvements to the way in which your office operates that came out of any of those community forums?

[00:32:03] Yes, unfortunately, what I still take away from the different groups that I've met with and discussed oversight with is still a lack of knowledge on the general community's part that my office and to a lesser extent the civilian review panel even exist. However, with that being said, the civilian review

[00:32:33] panel is doing much more community outreach than it was. And I think the lack of knowledge of our entities is decreasing month to month, year to year. And I think the groups that I've addressed, especially in 2025, have been more targeted, whereas the panel, they're getting out there and just kind of casting a wider net and hitting a more diverse group. And I think the knowledge of

[00:33:13] of the oversight entities in the county is increasing yeah okay good i and i appreciate that and i think it's something we'll you know continue to work on in the right way because we want people to know uh you're here and that these resources are here on the other hand um you know a low number of cases coming in i think is also indicative to the high quality and caliber that we hold our our departments in and so um you know you can't really read into the numbers but i think people's awareness. And a lot of folks that I talk to about this are just very comforted to know that we have such an apparatus in place. And so I think that continued community engagement is

[00:33:53] important. And I just want to end on a positive because the foot pursuit policy, and I know a lot of people were involved in this, a lot of people in this room were involved in this, I think is the outcome of that is stellar. I know the process wasn't always perfect, but the desire to get a foot pursuit policy in place in this county, both for our community to know, but for our officers to know, timing was really important to do that. And, you know, I know that there were some challenges with the way in which that was communicated, the way in which it came about, but I do want to be

[00:34:30] clear that everyone I spoke to in the community and in the department, certainly after the incident that occurred in Tyson's was interested in getting a foot pursuit policy in place expeditiously. And I think we have one in place. I think it's a good one. Ultimately, things can always be, you know, altered in the future.

[00:34:49] Things can evolve. But just having that in place is really important. And I appreciate the work that you did both with the, you know, equity action team, but also with our One Fairfax Community Roundtable specifically, because this is an important issue uh for our community and i just wanted to thank you and the others in this room so i don't have to do this again in a few minutes uh thank them as well because that's that's a big big important thing for our county so thank you okay uh thank you supervisor excuse me chairman mckay i'll now ask um supervisor herity if he has any comments yeah i'm just going to go real quick

[00:35:24] since this is your last time probably before us just want to say thank you having an independent and professional outside look at our police department is important. And I think it's led to meaningful, positive changes in the department.

[00:35:40] And I want to thank you for your professionalism and for the job you do. And you've left some really big shoes to fill. Thank you very much. And a nice caseload, too. Thanks. Okay, Supervisor Herity. I'll recognize next, Supervisor Sturrock.

[00:35:58] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Mr. Schott, and thank you very much for your service. And frankly, the, I'd say, strong, even, consistent pattern of how you approach what you do and the measured tones are reflected in how you've presented to us today.

[00:36:17] And it's what I've seen over, I know it's at least six or seven years, and I'm not sure the exact date. I just know that about 10 years, if we go back in time about 10 years, we had nothing like this. And I think we recognize, and I know there's a few board members that are here, we recognize at the time that we had an outstanding police force, an outstanding, I think, system, if you will, for supporting our residents and ensuring transparency and openness, et cetera.

[00:36:46] We also recognize that it wasn't always as open and transparent and communicative. I think you've referenced some of that today, which is we still have a significant issue with people not being familiar with processes that are available to them and how those processes work and, frankly, how we assure the independence of those processes.

[00:37:07] So, again, my big thanks to you on that and to this board because not every board member at the time, and maybe not even now, fully embraced the fact that we should have an independent auditor and we should have a civilian review panel.

[00:37:23] And I know that I strongly supported it then and I even more strongly support it now because I think it's helped us elevate how we present ourselves not only within the county but also outside of it.

[00:37:36] So my question is maybe a little bit harder one, but still one that I'm sure you have thoughts about and whether or not this is the best forum or you want to do it in some other way, is I was looking at the report itself of the Ad Hoc Police Practices Commission and saw that there were some things we specifically asked the independent auditor to do and specifically what we were looking for them to provide kind of independent assessment judgments on.

[00:38:05] Are there any situations that you've had over the course of this, I guess it's seven or eight years, I don't know how long ago, I know we started this 10 years ago with the process, anything you felt that you didn't get that level of support and cooperation, whether it's from a board member or the board overall, I should say collectively, or from our police?

[00:38:29] I'm not necessarily looking for naming names, but I'm mostly saying, have we generally moved in the right direction? And are there any issues that you still believe or feel or are concerned that we can and should do more? I'll start by saying I've always felt 100% supported by the Board of Supervisors from, and I'll answer the question, I started actually nine years ago, 2017, so I've been in place almost nine years to the day.

[00:39:04] And again, I've never received anything but full, full support from the board. It wasn't always perfect sledding, I would say, with the police department.

[00:39:22] But I think that's natural and understandable. The police department, I was new to the police department as well. The position, the whole notion of civilian oversight of a law enforcement agency in 2017 was brand new.

[00:39:39] in Fairfax County. So I didn't get resistance, but I didn't get a red carpet rolled out for me either. But I will say this, I think the relationship between my office and the police department, as well as the panel in the police department, has gotten much better over the years.

[00:40:08] And I'm not pointing any fingers at anybody who was at the police department. I think that was just the natural evolution of a totally new concept in the county. And where we are today, are there any particular things that we should be more sensitive to or aware of or look to address better or more effectively than we have with the system that we have? Well, I guess the quick answer would be not that I can think of, but the caveat is I think the county is going

[00:40:48] in a better direction with the proposed consolidation of the two, I keep referring to the two entities, I think we will be streamlined and that much more efficient when the two entities are under one roof and under the supervision of one person.

[00:41:06] Well, thank you very much for your service. And I know you've made a difference and I know that, and I know where we are today versus where we were 10 years ago. And I have no interest in going back, and I'm very interested in how we can continue to evolve to better ensure our police officers are protected as well as the community.

[00:41:28] And I think we've done so many things along the way that have helped to improve that. And I know body cameras in particular have been one that has helped everyone, and I know many, many more things from that. So, again, my great appreciation and thanks. Thank you. Okay, next up, Supervisor Bierman.

[00:41:44] Thank you, Richard. We met seven years ago and I joined the police civilian review panel. I had a lot more hair back then. You look exactly the same. So thank you for your years of service and it's been a real pleasure to work with you.

[00:41:59] I have a quick substantive question. You suggested that the FCPD should eliminate any fleeing felon or misdemeanant language from General Order 540 from its use of force general order. I just want to make sure I understand that recommendation.

[00:42:16] So the recommendation is essentially the idea that – or the – not the idea. The recommendation is because the use of force really doesn't – it doesn't matter whether it's a fleeing felon or anybody else. Use of force ultimately has the same requirements, and your suggestion is essentially that the fleeing felon or misdemeanant language is superfluous.

[00:42:39] Is that correct? That's exactly correct. A person who's fleeing or not fleeing, but who poses an imminent danger of death or a serious physical injury may legally and policy-wise have deadly force used upon them.

[00:42:55] Okay. Understood. And that has not been implemented by the police? It has not. Is it still under consideration or have they – No, they have concluded that they would prefer to keep my words here out of an abundance of caution to maintain the fleeing felon and the parenthetical involving a misdemeanor language in.

[00:43:19] It doesn't create a situation where deadly force may be used, but in their view, the police department's response was it elaborates upon when deadly force can be used if that person happens to be flea.

[00:43:40] So it makes it easier, in theory, to train officers about a fleeing felon situation by having a general order that includes that language and emphasizes that in a fleeing felon situation, these are the requirements for the use of deadly force. So therefore, while it is superfluous from a training perspective, the way it is works for them.

[00:44:01] Is that about right? That's accurate. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to go over that recommendation and understand your position and the position of the police department. Thank you very much for your service. Big shoes to fill. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Supervisor Bierman. Are there any other questions from my colleagues before we move to the next item?

[00:44:25] All right. Thank you again, Mr. Schott. And we will now welcome Craig Miles, who is the liaison for the police civilian review panel, and he will provide the update for their 2025 annual report. Thank you.

[00:44:43] Good afternoon to the board members. I'm here on behalf of Dr. Brian Garner, who's the chair of the Fairfax County Police Civilian Review Panel. Dr. Garner sends his regards and apologizes for not being here in person. With me today is our vice chair, David Adams.

[00:45:01] I will make the presentation on behalf of the Chair, and Vice Chair Adams is here to assist with any questions. For the benefit of those in the public who are not aware, obviously all the board members are aware, the purpose of the Police Civilian Review Panel in Fairfax County is to enhance police legitimacy and build trust between the Fairfax County Police Department, the Board of Supervisors, and the public.

[00:45:26] The means by which the panel does that is review completed internal affairs bureau investigations involving abuse of authority or serious misconduct. And as Mr. Schott said earlier, we have complaints that actually cross into the panel's purview and the auditor's purview.

[00:45:47] The panel determines whether investigations are accurate, complete, thorough, objective, and impartial. The panel provides citizens an independent avenue, much like the auditor's office, to make a complaint against the police. And the panel, like the auditor's office, makes recommendations regarding Fairfax County Police Department policies and practices.

[00:46:09] So the panel is composed of nine volunteers and two permanent staff members, the liaison and analyst, Shakish Ferguson. Dr. Garner served as the chair during calendar year 2025, which for the panel starts on March 1st, with David Adams as the vice chair.

[00:46:30] In January 2025, the prior management analysts left the department, and Ms. Ferguson was hired on March 25th as her new analyst, and we're excited to have her here. She provides a lot of data analysis. The slide says the liaison and analyst launched a new shared online complaint form with OIPA support.

[00:46:52] I will correct Dr. Garner. Actually, the two analysts from both offices launched the new online complaint form. I will not take any credit for that. That was all their work, and it is great. The staff updated bylaws and administrative procedures during 2025 to strengthen daily operations.

[00:47:11] Just as a summary, some of which is in the report, the bylaws were changed twice, once in June of 2025, establishing independence of the panel from the auditor's office, which prior to that, the auditor's office oversaw the panel. We also changed the deadlines for closing investigations for internal affairs from 60 to 90 days to provide a reasonable amount of time for complete, thorough, and accurate investigations by the police department and some reasonable expectations for community members.

[00:47:42] We also gave community members who made complaints and then requested reviews 90 days to match to request a review by the panel. We also codified the liaison position, and in December 2025, we made another set of changes.

[00:47:58] Obviously, the board made those changes because they adopted the bylaws. Based on suggestions between the prior chair and the current chair, we changed the terms of the chair and the vice chair to two years from one year because after a year, most of the chairs were really getting into the groove of, for lack of a better term, doing their job, and then they were out.

[00:48:18] So those are the substantive changes. Panel member training is a huge, huge goal. At the beginning of the term, or even before the beginning of the term of the vice chair and the chair, we sat down and came up with a strategy.

[00:48:37] We came up with a curriculum. And I know many of the board members I met with when I first started this job said the panel needs to be trained. So the panel members attended multiple community police academy sessions in the spring of 2025. And just so community members understand, the idea is to partner with the police department.

[00:48:58] And also, because the panel has oversight of the police department, we need to know how the police department trains. We need to know what their policies are, their procedures are. So while the police department provides training for the panel, the panel still has oversight. But you cannot judge the police department on what they do unless you know what they're supposed to do.

[00:49:16] So a quick overview of some of the training. Threat Assessment and Management Unit, Use of Force and Taser Demo, the Narcotics Unit, Crisis Intervention Training, which is really big. I know the board has discussed that a lot. Domestic Violence and Victim Services Training, Canine Training, Traffic Overview, the Motorcycle Unit.

[00:49:36] We heard about the Real-Time Crime Center, Crime Solvers, Major Crimes in Crime Scene, and then Special Operations Division Street Crimes. In addition to that, training, which the police department was gracious enough to provide, I guess, a la carte.

[00:49:52] So the panel members don't have to participate in the entire Community Police Academy. They can attend classes as they wish. So we do appreciate that for the police department. In June of 2025, the police department provided an overview of their implicit bias training for panel members, which was followed by a little bit of panel fun.

[00:50:08] The panel got to go to the range and observe and use firearms and understand how the police department is trained in the use of firearms. And they rode along in emergency vehicle operations. I know some of the panel members wanted to drive really fast around the track, but they had to ride. But it was fun and obviously very important to learn about those things.

[00:50:29] The last major part of our training for 2025 was the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, NACOL, provided on-site civilian oversight training. Actually, the training director for NACOL is in Richmond, so at a savings, no hotel, no travel.

[00:50:45] She drove up on four Saturdays and provided training. Training included community stakeholder engagement, which is big for the panel, reviewing and understanding data and effective practices for conducting or reviewing investigations. And we'll talk about data and AI a little bit later.

[00:51:02] Cognitive and implicit biases and oversight and identifying and addressing challenges and opportunities. So I think it was time and money well spent to get the objective training from NACOL. In addition, four panel members, our analysts, Richard and his analysts, and two members of Internal Affairs attended the NACOL conference in Minneapolis.

[00:51:24] I think it's the first time I can remember, I've been here for two years, or heard of four panel members going to training at NACOL, and I think it was also the first time Internal Affairs participated. So again, more partnership with the police department in Internal Affairs and oversight of the police department.

[00:51:44] Our panel's report calls for continued expansion of training and curriculum in partnership with FCPD and the OIPA. We also train with the Office of the Independent Police Auditor, so we still continue to work as a team. Oversight effectiveness, the new management analysts, of course, has strengthened our data, our new online complaint form we've talked about, and that enables us to immediately see complaints in both offices.

[00:52:11] So the auditor's office sees the complaint, the panel's office sees the complaint. We forwarded it to IAB and determined who's going to handle the complaint. And I already talked about the bylaws and partnership with the OIPA. So Chair Garner framed the term around a central question for his first term as a chair.

[00:52:33] How can we perform oversight better? And a little bit of a snapshot, the monthly training day model was approved in March of 2025. Spring of 2025, I already talked about community police academies. We had ride-alongs. Actually, the chair of the panel rode along with CIT.

[00:52:51] He rode along with CIT. He has a big interest in that. And he also attended four science training and got his four science certification. And I followed up in March by getting my four science certification, March of 2026.

[00:53:08] NACOL, we've discussed, and the conference. And then the panel chair actually became a certified practitioner of oversight, which is a NACOL certification. So we're really trying to professionalize the panel, not only in ad hoc training or informal training, but in formal training and certifications.

[00:53:31] Community engagement, again, community engagement is one of the big, big ticket items. And I would like to credit the analyst with taking on that responsibility. She's interacted with a lot of people and scheduled pretty much all of our community training.

[00:53:48] And I'm sure she's contacted people in your offices about community engagement. I'm sorry. So the panel had a couple of monthly meetings at Gum Spring and the North County Community Center. We try to have our public meetings out in the public as much as possible. Outreach included James Lee, Sully, the NAACP, Providence Day, Colmore Day, Habla Valley, Fair Oaks, and I've actually started attending the Community Advisory Committee meetings.

[00:54:19] meetings, I know those are police adjacent, but one of the first thoughts is the people who interact with the police should know the panel exists. So as Richard said earlier, we are casting a wide net and a lot of that is to let members of the police department and those who are police adjacent who work with the police department or community members know there is this panel, there is the auditor's office. The staff, Richard and I partnered, Our work included the Foot Pursuit Equity Action Team, Community Police Academy outreach, and interfaith coordination.

[00:54:52] That's one of the new things. We're going to partner with some of the interfaith community, and that's one of the expansions of our outreach, which occurred last year and will occur this year. As far as the complaint and intake process, a very busy year for the panel.

[00:55:09] 31 initial complaints, which was a record for the last five years, and 17 review requests. We conducted 10 initial reviews for 10 subcommittee meetings. The fourth quarter, we had 14 complaints. So 14 of our 31 complaints came in the last three months of the calendar year.

[00:55:29] So the pace of complaints is picked up. We don't have the data to say that's related to outreach, but I would hope that outreach is impacting how many community members know about the panel and send complaints in. Subcommittee reviews are increasingly scheduled on full panel meeting days.

[00:55:48] A lot of that is per design of panel members when we schedule subcommittee meetings because it eliminates panel members who are volunteers and graciously give their time, having to come to Government Center twice for two separate meetings. And then, of course, we talked about the bylaws being changed already.

[00:56:07] Snapshot of the complaints. You can look at the numbers. Again, all complaints filed, which is review requests and initial complaints, 48 for 2025, 32 for last year. so the numbers are trending up, 14, again, in the last quarter of last year.

[00:56:25] To date, we've had 14 this year, so 28 complaints filed in the last six months. No review requests this year. I say that now. I'm not superstitious, but we'll probably get a bevy of them after I've said that. But we're trying to increase the number of subcommittee meetings so that community members do not have to wait.

[00:56:46] I know a question was asked earlier about how long can community members expect to wait for service if you would customer service from the auditor's office we're trying to keep review requests under a year from when the complaint is filed that doesn't always happen and I'll discuss later a lot of that's based on redactions that have to happen if minors are involved in cases currently Internal Affairs Bureau has a late 11 open investigations if you look the next slide. The number of allegations, we had 83 total allegations. Again, one complaint may have

[00:57:25] multiple allegations. Most of the majority of the allegations or the one with the most number, category of the most number, were failed to file or investigate, meaning that the complainant said the officers didn't investigate whatever their initial complaint was, not complaint to internal affairs, but the reason they called the police.

[00:57:45] Misconduct is kind of a generic category, and then we run into allegations of violations of policy, law, and you can see the rest. So moving forward, this is from the chair himself.

[00:58:08] So the chair, again, how can we perform oversight better? I think this kind of goes into some of what was said earlier. about, um, Mr. Schott was asked, what can we do differently? What can we do better? Um, the chair would like to, the panel to talk about the question and to possibly, uh, work on a few things. Assess capacity gaps in complaint intake, investigative authority, subpoena power and enforcement tools, establish an AI and technology accountability framework for surveillance systems,

[00:58:43] predictive analytics, and automated decision tools. As we know, AI and the use of AI is big. I know when I left the Department of Transportation, there was very little regulation over drones, and AI is very similar, where there are not a lot of laws or policies that govern AI.

[00:59:00] The panel chair would like to develop community engagement benchmarks that reflect Fairfax County's racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity, consistent with one Fairfax. recommends structural legislative reforms to strengthen the independence of authority of civilian oversight bodies and align oversight goals with the countywide strategic plan and future update cycles. Those are things that the panel has not discussed yet. Those are things proposed for the upcoming year. I know recently I worked with the Fairfax legislative team worked

[00:59:35] with Arlington, and we did make, with Arlington's help, made legislative changes in the General Assembly so that cases involving minors don't have to be redacted anymore. Hopefully that will be signed by the governor, but that's one of the holdups. If you have a case involves a juvenile of any kind, body-worn camera, names, et cetera, all have to be redacted, and because of FOIA and the large number of FOIA requests, Internal Affairs actually ends up having to redact a lot of those themselves. So that has caused a bit of a backlog in our cases, but we hope to catch up

[01:00:11] with that. With that, any questions? Okay. Thank you very much for that presentation, and I'll acknowledge the work that you've done also, Mr. Miles, and the outreach to the community has been pretty significant. I've had the opportunity to participate in a number of those outreach programs, and certainly in the Hyba Valley area, I think it was very much appreciated having you come to South County makes it a lot easier for those folks who live kind of far away.

[01:00:46] I'll also note, had the opportunity also to be a part of some of the training that you've done at the Police Academy, and I'll say you guys really get engaged in all the different aspects of it, and I think I even got to participate in the BOLO Wrap, so I didn't know what a BOLO Wrap was before I went into that training, but I learned very quickly how effective it actually is.

[01:01:13] So I think the work in helping educate the panel on all of these different components and making sure they have the background, knowledge, and skill to perform their duties, I think, is extraordinarily important.

[01:01:29] So I just want to acknowledge the work that's being done there. And also, I know Dr. Garner is not here. I want to say I very much appreciate his kind of focus and his direction that he is providing for the panel.

[01:01:44] You can see his fingerprints on a number of the things that you have presented here today. And I've had the opportunity to work with him as he is an appointee from Franconia. So we're delighted to have him continue to serve, continue to serve even that next year.

[01:02:00] So the decision to add that second year makes a lot of sense, too, as it allows for greater continuity, and I think it gives you greater capacity to serve in that role. So I just wanted to acknowledge that.

[01:02:18] If I could ask just maybe a couple questions, and going back, it's kind of similar to the questions I asked Richard Schott. But just looking at this particular year, you did have an increase in the number of complaints.

[01:02:36] And I think you sort of alluded to that might be directly connected to the outreach, which I think is really important. I mean, we do want people to know that you exist, but we also want them to know that you are there if they have concerns or issues. Can you help me understand the process to work on adjudicating or reviewing those complaints?

[01:03:01] How are we going to address the increase and what's the methodology that you're going to use to continue to address increases that might come in the future? So first of all, I would like to give the police department credit because all of our initial complaints were sent to the police department.

[01:03:20] so they are working at a much faster pace. Their workload in internal affairs has increased and they make a concerted effort to get the initial complaints handled within 90 days. As far as, so we process them, if you would, and send them to the police department. So we're done until the review request portion. So generally when I got here, when I arrived in 2024, we would have one subcommittee meeting in between each panel meeting.

[01:03:47] So for members of the public, three panel members would review an investigation independently and then meet as a public body and discuss the allegation and determine whether the full panel should review it and then report out at the next full panel meeting.

[01:04:05] So basically, I think we had, if you look at the actual annual report, there were 11 subcommittee meetings in 2024 as opposed to six in 2023 and 10 in 2025. So we've actually, this calendar year, had a couple of times, we had a few times where we're doing two subcommittee meetings in between each panel meeting.

[01:04:31] So the pace has increased, realizing I have to balance and I have a panel member here, realizing I have to balance the fact that the panel members have full-time jobs, they have other lives, they're volunteers. So my goal is to catch up, if you would, by crunching the numbers, by speeding the pace up a little bit, and maybe slowing down as we get to the summer months.

[01:04:55] Because obviously, they're volunteers, they have families, they want vacations. So two subcommittee meetings and two subcommittees presenting out during a full panel meeting versus one is the methodology and talking to the panel chair and vice chair and the panel members so that I don't overburden them because I do realize it's a big responsibility for them.

[01:05:15] Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. And then I wanted to ask, I know you talk about the role and use of AI. Just wanted to see if there's any additional color you can add to how that might be deployed and used. So a lot of that is conversation with Dr. Garner.

[01:05:32] I know that we've had one community member complain about AI writing the police report because, as you all are aware, AI is used, can be used by police officers in conjunction with their body-worn camera to generate a police report.

[01:05:48] This has been discussed during a panel meeting. Generally speaking, AI inserts a couple of facts that are non-facts into the report that are absurd for lack of a better word and the police officer is responsible for editing the report to make sure it's factual but i think as we go along we're going to see more of that because like i said we have we've had a community member say well ai wrote the report and ai said i was a racist and that's wrong so i think uh dr garner's researching i'm researching as part of my work at george mason just looking at how ai is used talking to police department how about ai is used

[01:06:25] by the police department so that we can be ahead of the curve, so that we're not caught off guard. If we do get a bevy of AI complaints or AI-related complaints, just make sure we understand as a panel how it's being used by FCPD and in the broader scope by the greater police community.

[01:06:44] Now that's helpful. Mr. Hill. Thank you, Chairman Luskin. Again, to back up Mr. Miles, we have a use policy for AI, and it's countywide, and we're going to look at that use policy as it relates to PD. And Tom Arnold and I are really looking and seeing how we can advance it.

[01:07:03] But it's going to be used countywide. AI is going to be augmenting, not supplanting, but augmenting the way we do things. So it's part of what Supervisor Herity's committee speaks about last time we were here with the IT Technology Committee.

[01:07:19] So, again, it's an augmentation. It shouldn't be used as fact. No, I appreciate that. And then last question I'll ask is looking at the proposal to develop a five-year strategic plan. I personally like that idea a lot, the five-year strategic plan.

[01:07:38] Do you have a sense of, like, the timing for that and the process that you'll use to create that five-year plan? So one of the discussions is to form a subcommittee of panel members to develop a strategic plan. Um, I'm not sure it's been a while since there's been any study long-term of the panel before I got here So as in any other organization if you're going to grow We we can't continue to go year to year or month to month So the five-year strategic plan is is is on the agenda and that's that's something open for discussion with um with the panel with the chair with with the board of supervisors, so

[01:08:14] Um, it's it's still in the initial stages, uh, but we we have not gotten to that yet but we definitely want to, the panel wants to, the panel chair wants to have a more concrete plan on where we're going, as opposed to, you know, intake complaints, send it to the PD, review requests.

[01:08:31] That's not what the panel's here for. We're here for more complex things. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of it, and certainly we'll look forward to seeing once it's completed. So thank you for that. So with that, I'll turn it over to Supervisor, excuse me, Chairman McKay. So, let me first thank you, Craig, but really want to thank the panel members because, as you mentioned, I don't think most people in the county understand these are volunteers serving to improve the county on their own time.

[01:08:59] And so I can't reiterate that enough and in tandem with that, appreciate them taking the time to take advantage of the training because I think you said it well. You know, it's hard to oversee the work of other individuals if you don't know what that work of those other individuals entails and the complexities that they're dealing with.

[01:09:21] And so I think that training and, you know, from where we were to where we are today, dramatic improvement in terms of training. But I think it goes without saying, and we all know this in this room, that training is a constant. It's not a we're done, you know, now 10 years later because the work in this space and in law enforcement particular is changing on seems like on a daily basis.

[01:09:46] And so just thinking about even how we train officers today versus how we train them. When I went through the academy a million years ago, it's a lot different, and that training has to always continue. So I really appreciate that. The question that I have when I look at the strategic priorities that were signaled in the chair's report, which I think are really good ones.

[01:10:09] I mean, we talked about those ones in the box on, what is it, page nine, I believe. The third one, community benchmarks tied to trust and equity, I'm wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on what the thought is behind that and, you know, what the work might be around that in the future, just so that, you know, we know and I know I'm looking at Ms. Zolicoffer, you know, because obviously this is an area that there still is a tremendous amount of distrust, even despite the outstanding work and oversight that we provide.

[01:10:46] in law enforcement. So I'm just wondering what that third item is and what your thought, and not asking you necessarily to speak for the chair since he's not here, but maybe you could elaborate a little bit on what your thought is in that area. So my opinion, I've worked with Ms. Zillicoff for a lot. One of the reasons I've come to Havla Valley for meetings or to hand out candy for Halloween is because it's one of the communities where there are trust issues.

[01:11:14] I've learned that as part of the equity action team, foot pursuit policy. So while we do cast a broad net with outreach, a lot of what we do also is target communities where we know their trust issues. And that comes from board members.

[01:11:29] That comes from talking to the police department. That comes from talking to Ms. Zollicoffer. So we'd like to develop some benchmarks tied to trust and equity. And some of that may work itself into our complaint process because now we have a smarter complaint process.

[01:11:47] So we may look to see how people heard about the panel. Did they hear about us at an outreach event? Continue to work with NAACP. Just looking at where we have issues and becoming more integrated with the community and with the broader county government.

[01:12:08] One of the things I said, I think, to many of you board members when I first got here is I wanted to get us off Panel Island. So a lot of that information comes from the broader county. So some of those benchmarks are talking to board members, talking to community outreach members, talking to Ms. Olokoff for her team.

[01:12:27] And I do interact as the panel liaison with different members of that team, Carol Escalante, et cetera. so a lot of that will come from the broader county government and those who work in that space because they have the expertise in that. Okay good I mean I'm delighted to hear that because unfortunately despite the good work of our department and all the infrastructure that we have here we know all it takes is one bad incident and it doesn't have to be anywhere close to Fairfax County for it to affect a lot of people in our community and unravel

[01:13:03] some of that built-in trust that always has to be reinforced. It's like the training has to constantly be reinforced in our community and something to be proud of that we're out there doing that. And I can say I see you all everywhere. So I mean, I appreciate the list of places that you rattled off, but seeing you out and about in every corner of the county at unconventional events as well. So it's one thing to hold a conversation on this topic. It's another to go out in the community at one of their celebrations and say, hey, we're here, because we want to build partnerships with the community, not in a time of crisis. But if there is a time of crisis, we want

[01:13:42] you to remember us and that we're here to be supportive. And I can't emphasize the importance of that enough and what a good job you're doing with it. So thank you. Thank you. Okay, next I have Sizemore Heiser. Thank you. And again, I appreciate your work and thank you for the work that you do. You may or may not know before I was on the school board for six years. Before that, I actually worked around neurodivergence and criminal justice issues. I worked with the NAACP, Supervisor Lusk, and I actually organized the first practice police interactions with folks with disabilities. So that's the lens by which I'm bringing my questions. And I bring this because

[01:14:18] my first question is the list of organizations and places you go. I didn't see a disability related organization like the ARCA, Northern Virginia or NAMI. And I bring that up because people with disabilities face disproportionately high negative police interactions. They're about 20% of the population with 30 to 50% of all police use incidents of force and killing. So it's significantly disproportionate. Studies suggest about a third, a half of the individuals killed by the police have a disability. So I was just curious in your five-year strategic plan,

[01:14:54] what planning do you have for specific outreach to disability organizations and the disability community? And I also tie it to the trust and equity goals, which I think are fantastic goals. But, you know, in terms of trust, there's also familiarity, right, both on the criminal justice side in terms of the police, but also on the community and on the people in which who may call the police, right, public businesses, libraries, places that are open to the public.

[01:15:27] So I was just kind of curious, as part of your plan, what intention plans do you have or will you talk about in terms of interfacing with the disability community to bring their voice into this work? So we need to interface with the disability community.

[01:15:42] We have one panel member who's from that background. I don't know if you remember our discussion. My mother is a retired special education teacher. So I've been to many Special Olympics, done a few Special Olympics torch run. So it's something I'm very familiar with. It's something we need to do. We have not done that yet.

[01:15:58] So our analysts are typing as you speak. And I would be very happy to talk to you, Ms. Ola Coffer, about specific groups that we should interface with. But it's a hole in our outreach.

[01:16:15] Thank you. And I would just highly encourage you all at least to start with the ARC in Northern Virginia as a starting point, and NAMI as well for the student people and mental health issues. And I think one of my life's work has been infusing intentionality around disability and equity work. I think earlier you mentioned your racial, ethnic, and linguistic. When you talk about the equity work, really looking at racial, ethnic, and linguistic. And I would encourage you to add disability to that list, as well as gender. But I think, and that intersectionality as well. But often, and this is just from my work for 15 years, equity work, we talk about certain identities and disability we talk over here

[01:16:54] and I would love to see that more infused. So I appreciate the conversation, but that's what I really wanted to talk about. And if you want to chat more online, different groups, I'm happy to chat with you. But I think if you can infuse that in your strategic plan, especially given the statistics around disability interactions with police officers, I think it would make it work even better. Okay, thank you. We will definitely do that. Next, Supervisor Behrman. Thank you. I appreciate all the efforts that you're doing to get out into the community more, to make people know more about the Police Civilian Review

[01:17:31] Panel. The exact same things were said when I was on the panel years ago. This has always been something that matters. I also really like the idea of a five-year strategic plan. We did a four-year review earlier on in the panel's history. Now it's been, I think, six years since that happened, five years since that happened. So it seems like we're due for another round.

[01:17:55] One thing I've noticed is that, and I was on the panel when we did this, we did essentially create the subcommittee process in order to move things forward more often. But I noticed last year, I don't think we had a single full committee meeting because everything was disposed of in the subcommittee.

[01:18:15] So that's one thing also to look at whether or not the subcommittee process is acting as it should or whether it's kicking out too many complaints. Just something to consider given where we're at and you want to know whether or not you've gone too far in one direction versus the other because obviously we're trying to have the full panel engaged as often as possible as a way of, again, creating and building that trust between the community, the panel, the Board of Supervisors, and the FTPD.

[01:18:45] So those are just my quick comments, but thank you for the work that you're doing. I appreciate it. I will say that I am very cognizant of quality, so the goal is not to check the proverbial box. Yeah. I'm actually not suggesting that. I'm the one who wrote the rules on what the subcommittees would look like. So I'm just saying it's something that we should be continually looking at because also perception becomes reality. So you want to make sure that what you're doing is something that is a process that the public has some level of confidence in.

[01:19:21] And, again, I'm the one who wrote the rules on the subcommittee, so I just say it's maybe time to look at it. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Next, Supervisor Palchek. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll be very brief because it's almost three o'clock. I just want to wait to thank both of you. We talked earlier in transportation about iterative improvement, right?

[01:19:42] And I wasn't here when your office was created. I was here when you came in to this office, not when it was created. And it's just been a show of professionalism and continued engagement and improvement. And I appreciate both what you've left us with, Mr. Schott, and what you've brought in, Craig.

[01:20:01] It's been such a pleasure. And I think when we think about professionalism and engagement, not only do I appreciate what you're doing for the committee, but I have to say you are a standard bearer of that from your experience in the police department and I believe state police as well in Virginia to just how to communicate with the community, how to educate us.

[01:20:26] I call someone an expert when every time I meet with them, I learn something new, and that is absolutely the case with you. And I know anytime we invite you, I know you'll be at the ARC, I know you'll come to our events, and that you're always bringing a positive professional attitude and a very growth-minded.

[01:20:43] So I just, leaving us in good hands, I do think this is the right move, the merger, and we'll continue to encourage that targeted universalism and the outreach. Clearly, you know and continue to learn from our experts on that work.

[01:21:00] And the only other one that came up to mind, I can't remember if we've had you at the Council to End Domestic Violence, but if we haven't, we should invite you. I think it's another opportunity as we talk about gender equity and gender violence, um you know always bringing in i think your lens and then thinking about um for your members you're one person and you show up everywhere um but i don't know if the members of the panel also have thought about spreading out and being more present especially at the cac's i think that's a great um opportunity that you're you're planning to attend those meetings so the more they can be

[01:21:37] out and go to the communities as well as you very much appreciate it thank you thank you next Supervisor Stewart. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple questions. I want to start with something that was brought to our attention at a board meeting a number of months ago. It had to do with notification of action or inaction as a result of a complaint. And my understanding, this is really what I want to make sure I understood it correctly, is that we electronically

[01:22:08] notify complainants of the status of their process, do we have any sort of paper or maybe more traditional or typical notification process, whether it's general postal service or, more importantly, with respect to legal, either service or certified mail notifications that we do?

[01:22:32] So we generally use email, but we use email when the person has emailed us. If we get a paper complaint and don't have an email address, then I can't think of a time we sent snail mail, for lack of a better term. But we generally contact complainants via whatever method they contacted us.

[01:22:53] And other than the one incident that you're aware of, it's worked because careful making assumptions. But if we email the person back at the email they sent their complaint from, we generally get a response. I know the police department does or was sending out disposition letters via U.S. Postal Service.

[01:23:14] We can do that. But unless it's necessary, I prefer not to, unless, of course, we realize the person doesn't have access. Because obviously we have to make sure everyone has access. We can back it up with something by U.S. Postal Service if we need to.

[01:23:32] But I haven't seen an issue with it so far. I'm obviously open to change if necessary. I understand. I'm going to advocate that we, because I don't fully trust email. I have like four or five different emails, and I'm monitoring. And I think many of us, at least here, have at least two or three.

[01:23:51] And we can't always be as effective as we want to be. And we also know that there's times when we don't get email. And given the number of different boxes or spam folders and everything else we have, I want to at least I'll speak for myself and I'll let my colleagues speak for themselves, if you will.

[01:24:08] I would encourage us to, as a default, because it frankly doesn't cost much, is to notify folks, at least by USPS. I would say for more sensitive ones, and maybe they're all sensitive, so maybe this doesn't apply. But I would encourage where we've not established the connection, I guess, electronically, you know, with email, et cetera, that we absolutely close or we have a way of closing or addressing a case where somebody's not responded to a time frame or a deadline or whatever they may have with some sort of formal follow-up.

[01:24:48] I personally recommend sending out both USPS and sending out certified mail. Sometimes people don't even open certified mail because you have to go that extra step. But I think this is one of the situations where we can't do enough to make sure that we've gone above and beyond what really is maybe even reasonably expected, but to ensure that we are committed to folks notifying and communicating with folks.

[01:25:16] Again, in the end, it may have nothing to do with us. We've done our best. You all have done your best. But I would prefer to be able to say to individuals that may raise that in the future that we've done the following, and frankly, what else would you have us do, in a sense?

[01:25:33] So that's my personal advocacy. The second question I have is, it says in your notes on page 10, you had align oversight goals with countywide strategic plan. I guess I'm not clear what that means, and I don't know if that was addressed by any other questions. That's actually from the chair, and that's something to discuss with the panel in the future, so I would be remiss if I spoke on behalf of the chair and what his thoughts on that were. Okay, because I'm curious as well as to where the either the

[01:26:12] perceived unalignment is or disalignment or whatever the right terminology is here? I will say that on behalf of the chair, I think his thoughts are to make sure we are lock-stepping with the county to do it. As a county entity, our goals and objectives should not be different from the overall or larger county goals. So it doesn't necessarily mean that they're unaligned now. It could mean just to ensure that we are, the civilian review panels, goals and are aligned with that strategic plan.

[01:26:47] Those are my thoughts based on my discussions with the chair. If you could follow up in some way. I don't know if this is, if it's not until after the panel's discussed it, I get it. But just at some point in time, I'd like to at least understand if the panel believes or overall that there is some unalignment because I'd want to understand that.

[01:27:08] Yes, sir. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate the work that the panel's doing and the important role that it has in our community. Thank you. Okay. That is our last speaker on this item. So, I will thank Mr. Miles for his presentation and his support here today. And I will now adjourn our safety and security meeting for today, which is April 7, 2026.

[01:27:34] And if folks who are not here for the Dulles Rail tax meeting can move on out into the hallway, because that meeting started two minutes ago. And for those who are here with it, we're going to get started here right away. So thank you.

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