FCPD set to revive partnership with Vienna for drug investigations

The Fairfax County Police Department is hoping to add a detective from the Town of Vienna to its ranks.

Under a reciprocal agreement set to be approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors tomorrow (Tuesday), the Vienna detective will specifically help investigate drug and vice crimes as part of the larger department’s Organized Crime and Narcotics division.

“These crimes have a substantial and detrimental effect on the health and welfare of our communities and the cooperative effort between the Town of Vienna Police Department and FCPD would be advantageous in disrupting illicit activities,” county staff said in the board agenda.

According to the staff memo, Vienna had provided a detective who worked full-time in the FCPD’s narcotics division since July 1990. However, the partnership got put on hold in 2021 when the Vienna Police Department encountered “staffing constraints.”

Since then, the Vienna department has managed an about-face on those staffing challenges, reducing its vacancies to just one out of 52 positions, as of May.

With the revived reciprocal agreement, the Vienna Police Department will once again assign a detective to work with the FCPD full-time. County officers in the Organized Crime and Narcotics division will also get the authority to enforce drug and vice laws in the Town of Vienna, including by making arrests.

In addition, the Vienna Police Department will be able to claim a portion of the property seized in cases worked by its detective, according to the staff memo.

Sharing of forfeited assets shall be distributed based on the amount of work performed by each detective on any given case as determined by the Commander of OCN. The minimum amount that the Town of Vienna Police Department will receive shall be 5% of all asset sharing requests processed by the Fairfax County Police Department’s OCN. The maximum amount that the Town of Vienna Police Department will receive shall be no more than 70% of all asset sharing requests processed by the FCPD.

While working with the FCPD, the detective will be required to follow county rules, including the Trust Policy that bars county employees from sharing information about an individual’s citizenship or immigration status with federal immigration authorities unless required by law or court order.