Fairfax Police Chief Brings Message Of Reform To Reston

RESTON, VA — Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis kicked off his Communities of Trust meeting in Reston Tuesday night by addressing the issue of police reform and accountability.

"There's always been a scrutiny on our profession," he said. "We can take someone's freedom away, take someone into custody with handcuffs, and charge that person with a crime. We can use force, definitely force sometimes with justification. No other profession can do that. So we've always been under scrutiny to varying degrees."

Since the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors named Davis as its choice to be the new chief in April, he has been under a great deal of scrutiny in the press and from segments of the community over use-of-force lawsuits in his past.

Some groups have even called on the board to fire Davis and restart the hiring process, including the Fairfax County Democratic Committee and the local NAACP chapter. The later group also criticized the board for its lack of transparency in its hiring of the new chief.

Before coming to Fairfax, Davis had retired from the public safety profession and was workings a consultant. Although he enjoyed the travel, he admitted to not being fulfilled in the corporate world.

But that all change with the murder of George Floyd, according to Davis.

"There were bystanders, there were cops standing around that should've done something and they didn't," he said. "And I saw police chiefs across this country, many of them I got to know on a personal level, they were resigning. They were being fired. They were getting out. They were getting out of the profession."

Although Davis didn't originally seek out Fairfax County as the next step in his career, he recognized the opportunity and the challenge he would face.

"I think that when times are challenging, like they are challenging right now, that's when people who love and are passionate about this profession need to step up and be part of the solution," Davis said.

When asked about his vision for the Fairfax County Police Department, Davis replied that it was one that was focused on community policing.

"The fundamental vision of effective policing in any community starts and ends with a community policing mindset and a service mindset, a victim centric mindset," he said.

Davis' vision includes improving the relationship between historically marginalized communities and the police.

"It's the things we're going to do really soon as the police department here, where you're going to be seeing police officers of every rank out on foot in every patrol district, a lot more than you ever had," he said. "We're building capacity for police officers to engage in interactions, not enforcement interactions, but interactions with other humans. And those humans aren't necessarily a crime suspect or a victim or witness or reporting person or a confidential source. They're just people."

Davis admitted that having police officers out on foot in the suburbs across a large county for their entire shift wouldn't be very practical. But, going forward, every officer would be expected to spend about 30 minutes a day on foot in their community talking to people.

Currently, FCPD has 115 sworn vacancies in its force, which is the largest number the county has ever had, according to Davis. The challenge his department is facing is that many of the other nearby jurisdictions are in the same boat and are trying to draw from the same talent pool.

"We're doing a lot of work right now to incentivize new recruits, new hiring, trying to keep people from retiring on the the attrition end, and attract people on the entry level," he said.

As it staffs up, the department is committed to diversity in its recruiting.

"You have to better reflect the community," he said. "We need to hire more young people from black and brown communities. We can't wish for it to happen. We can't wait for diversity to occur over time."

A study of FCPD data from 2016-2018 by the University of Texas at San Antonio revealed a disparity in the uses of force against communities of color. To address these disparities, Davis said he had already started implementing ICAT procedural justice, implicit bias training and relationships in the department.

"What this training does ... is that it requires and teaches police officers to use time and distance to their advantage and to consider tactically repositioning themselves on each and every call for service," he said.

A retired police officer is currently providing Fairfax County officers with implicit bbias and procedural justice training, according to Davis.

"He's getting police officers to lower their guard," he said. "It's not a personal attack on the police. It's not an indictment of the police. No one's telling the police that you as an individual are racist or predisposed and treat people differently because of the color of their skin. But it just gets people more aware of all of our predispositions that apply our experiences, our upbringing, and our culture through the job in a way that inevitably negatively impacts people of color."

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