Fairfax County Police Receive Positive Response From People Who Interacted With Department

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Nearly 90 percent of respondents to a survey conducted by the Fairfax County Police Department viewed their interaction with the police department as "very positive" or "positive."

The survey results, released Saturday by the FCPD, showed that only 5 percent of respondents viewed their interactions with the department as "negative" or "very negative." The FCPD received more than 9,500 responses from residents who had interacted with police.

The survey was part of a nine-month pilot program where the department sought ways to understand how the community feels about the police department. The FCPD used a technology called My90 to solicit feedback from Fairfax County residents who had interactions with the police department.

The My90 program sent text messages, in both English and Spanish, to people who reached out to the department requesting select types of services.

The messages asked a series of questions, such as, “Prior to your interaction with the officer, how did you view FCPD?” Respondents then clicked the response: very positively, positively, neutrally, negatively, or very negatively. The survey then asked them for their view of the police after their interactions with them.

Data from the messages was collected from June 2022 through January 2023. According to the FCPD, the confidential survey results, along with analytics, will help guide the department in future strategies.

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“Since deploying My90, we have collected thousands of responses from all over Fairfax County and have the opportunity to review the valuable feedback we gain from community members we have just served,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said in a statement Saturday.

The survey results were released at the two-year anniversary of Davis taking over for Edwin C. Roessler Jr. as Fairfax County police chief.

After the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors named Davis as the new chief in April 2021, he said he would work to continue the county’s ongoing efforts around police reform.

"Reform is something we do for police officers, not to you," Davis said at the time. "It makes you better. It earns you a better relationship with the community. So, reform will be a constant topic of conversation."

Over the past year, Fairfax County has seen a rise in officer-involved shootings, from six in 2022 compared to one in 2021 and two in 2020, according to data on the Fairfax County Police Department's website.

The FCPD asked the Police Executive Research Forum, a consulting firm that focuses on policing issues, to examine all officer-involved shooting incidents in the county over the past two years. The request came just over a week after Fairfax County police officers fatally shot an unarmed man who was accused of shoplifting at Tysons Corner Center.

PERF is examining the shooting incidents since the start of 2021 and will seek to identify any performance patterns or deficiencies in the department.

In the survey results released Saturday, 68 percent of respondents said they viewed the FCPD very positively after their recent interaction with the department, while 19 percent said they viewed the interaction as positive. Seven percent said they viewed the interaction neutrally, while 3 percent said they viewed the interaction negatively and 2 percent viewed it very negatively.

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Based on the responses, the survey found that residents strongly agreed that FCPD treated them with respect (86 percent), treated them fairly (83 percent), officers listened to them (76 percent), and were understood (77 percent).

In the survey, residents emphasized the importance of the day-to-day interactions that police officers have with residents. One respondent said: “Spend a little more one-on-one time with the residents in their beat, even if it’s just to stop and say hello.”

According to the FCPD, traffic citations are up more than 200 percent in 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. The department attributed the increase in citations in part to the increased focus by police on traffic safety. In March, for example, FCPD officers participated in the Road Shark initiative, which focused on high accident areas, traffic and pedestrian enforcement and education.

"My90 and our Integrated Policing and Community initiative were designed to increase one-on-one community collaboration and engagement," the FCPD said. "This fundamental patrol model is helping us build connections with our community. The ultimate goal is to increase visibility, build trust and foster positive and productive relationships with those we serve."

Residents were also asked about their top safety concern in Fairfax County. At 22 percent, traffic offenses were identified as the top concern, followed by theft of personal property at 18 percent, and sexual assault, rape and murder at 15 percent.

Twenty-six percent of the respondents who participated in the survey marked "other" as their top concern, a category that included noise complaints, hit and runs, parking violations, animal violations and gang presence.