Loudoun County Sheriff's Office


The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is the primary law enforcement agency within Loudoun County, Virginia and is the largest Sheriff's Office in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Organization

The agency is currently headed by Sheriff Michael L. Chapman who was last re-elected in 2019.
Since the establishment of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, 1 officer has died in the line of duty.

Potential Transition to Police Department

Shortly after being re-elected in 2019, Chairwoman Phyllis Randall proposed transitioning policing to a new police department while the sheriff would only be responsible for court related duties as is done in Prince William County and Fairfax County. Randall says the reason she is proposing this is "I just simply don’t believe that law enforcement should be political." However Sheriff Michael L. Chapman has stated that " are happy with the service they are getting, and it’s almost like, 'Why is there going to be a move to try and fix something that’s not broken?' it just seems to me to be a matter of just exercising power and control."
In 2012, the Board of Supervisors asked for a report about a potential transition and the commission responsible strongly recommended keeping the current system citing decreased state funding due to low crime rates and the idea that a police chief would be equally political when appointed.
To implement a police department a referendum is required and must be approved by voters in the county and enacted by the General Assembly.