The Fairfax County Police Department has implemented a formal policy for handling foot pursuits.
The department released guidelines on foot pursuits last week that it says will ensure officers utilize “leading-industry best practices” when handling “unpredictable events.” The new policy officially takes effect today (Wednesday).
The department says it’s “one of only a few law enforcement agencies in the country” to implement a formal policy regulating foot pursuits, though the Arlington County Police Department has had a policy with specific criteria since 2021.
“This policy is the result of thoughtful collaboration and a strong commitment to safety, accountability, and transparency,” FCPD Chief Kevin Davis said. “It reflects the professionalism of our officers and our dedication to doing this job the right way.”
Under the policy, officers “should consider … degree(s) of risk to which the officer, the fleeing suspect, and other community members may be exposed as a result of the pursuit.”
When risks begin to outweigh the “need for immediate apprehension,” the policy says, officers should end the pursuit and instead attempt to establish a perimeter around the suspect’s last known location.
The guidance comes two years after a police officer shot and killed Timothy Johnson during a foot pursuit outside Tysons Corner Center on Feb. 22, 2023. Johnson was suspected of shoplifting sunglasses from Nordstrom.
In the wake of the shooting, the Fairfax County NAACP and other civil rights advocacy groups argued that the pursuing officers’ actions appeared out of step with the FCPD’s use-of-force policy, which, at the time, permitted “deadly force” to apprehend a fleeing person if they were believed to have committed a violent felony and posed a “significant threat of serious injury or death” to other people.
They also urged the department to adopt a policy outlining when officers can engage in foot pursuits, as recommended by a 2021 University of Texas study.
In court last year, former Sgt. Wesley Shifflett testified that he shot Johnson after Johnson reached toward his waistband for what he feared was a weapon. Johnson was later found to have been unarmed.
Though Shifflett was acquitted of manslaughter in October, he was convicted for recklessly handling a firearm and was sentenced to three years of active incarceration on Feb. 28. The prison sentence was commuted by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin three days later.
With the court proceedings over, Fairfax County Independent Police Auditor Richard Schott published a report on the shooting on Monday (April 7), finding that the FCPD’s internal investigation that concluded with Shifflett getting fired was “complete, thorough, objective, impartial, and accurate.”
While he didn’t make any formal recommendations for a foot pursuit policy, the auditor highlighted various proposals from the University of Texas study, which was commissioned by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a review of the FCPD’s use-of-force policies and practices.
Researchers found that FCPD officers disproportionately deploy force and point weapons at Black people, though they also found more use-of-force cases involving white people than anticipated.
In addition to recommending a foot pursuit policy, which it argued would “help reduce force and injuries to officers and suspects,” the report urged the police department to incorporate an “imminency” requirement for the use of deadly force.
“Under this approach, officers are permitted to use deadly force to protect themselves or others from what is reasonably believed to be an imminent threat of death or serious injury,” the report said. “… This recommended policy approach is clear, simple, easy to train on, and consistent with recommendations from professional police organizations and legal scholars.”
The rewording would simplify the FCPD’s use-of-force policy and eliminate the need for the provision specifying that deadly force could be used against a fleeing felon, the report said.
Schott said he agreed with the study’s rationale and recommendation.
“The elimination of such language should prevent any confusion — and criticism — that the use of force policy allows for the use of deadly force merely to prevent someone from fleeing,” he wrote in his review of Johnson’s fatal shooting.
Since that shooting, the FCPD had been working to develop a foot pursuit policy in conjunction with community groups, including a One Fairfax Community Roundtable Foot Pursuit Equity Action Team. Schott said he had been “engaged in that process” as a nonvoting member of the equity action team since December.
The newly released policy will follow the approach recommended by the University of Texas study by “ensuring officers continuously assess risks, the severity of suspected crimes, and the need for immediate apprehension while adjusting their tactics through evolving circumstances,” police said.
In conjunction with the formal policy, FCPD also unveiled a public-facing dashboard showcasing foot pursuit data. A total of 78 pursuits were reported during the first three months of 2025, averaging out to six per week.
The department says it began collecting and analyzing data on foot pursuits in early 2023 that helped shape the new policy.
