The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office isn’t backing down on its policy guidance for cases involving undocumented immigrants as defendants.
A day after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it’s investigating the policy for potential civil rights violations, a spokesperson for the prosecutors’ office criticized the probe as “the latest example of the Trump Administration’s own ‘pattern or practice’ of misusing the Justice Department to launch partisan attacks.”
The Trump administration has launched an investigation into the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office over its handling of cases involving undocumented immigrants as defendants.
The Justice Department notified Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano today (Wednesday) that it has opened an investigation into his office’s policy advising prosecutors to consider defendants’ immigration status when making decisions about plea agreements, charges and sentencing.
The Fairfax County Police Department’s use of drones has caught the attention of the Trump administration.
Federal officials, including Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios, visited the FCPD’s Real Time Crime Center on Friday (April 24) to hype up the potential of drones to transform public safety and the U.S. economy.
Three people were forced out of their homes last week by an apartment fire in the Herndon area that investigators say resulted from improperly discarded smoking materials.
The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department was dispatched at 12:42 p.m. last Wednesday (April 15) for reports of an outdoor fire that was spreading to the Kendrick Court Senior Apartments building (13430 Coppermine Road) in McNair.
Fairfax County drivers can expect to see an increase in traffic enforcement this month.
Local law enforcement will revive their Road Shark initiative, which aims to reduce speeding and reckless driving, later in April in conjunction with National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
The natural gas explosion that destroyed a house in Centreville last month and forced dozens of others to be evacuated occurred hours after Washington Gas identified a critical leak in the neighborhood, an initial investigatory report says.
A service technician from the utility, which has multiple gas lines in the area, found a “grade 1” leak outside a home on Belle Plains Drive around 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 15 after the resident reported a “gas odor” about two hours earlier, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The Fairfax County Police Department is moving forward with plans to partially seal off its radio communications from the public.
The department has proposed encrypting its “main channels” to both limit the disclosure of sensitive information and prevent “someone’s worst day from being used for entertainment,” officers told the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors at a Safety and Security Committee meeting this afternoon (Tuesday).
A Fairfax County police pilot program that uses drones to gather initial information in emergencies continues to grow after receiving overwhelmingly positive returns.
Launched in fall 2025, the “Drone as First Responder” program features specially-outfitted drones that are deployed and remotely piloted to the location where an emergency is reported.
All Centreville residents displaced by the natural gas leak that resulted in a house explosion and fire on Feb. 15 have now been cleared to return home.
Washington Gas says it restored gas service to the 19 remaining evacuated homes by 10 p.m. on Tuesday (Feb. 24), and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department (FCFRD) has now lifted its evacuation order after detecting no gas in the environment for 48 consecutive hours.
Residents on and around Fort Belvoir may want to keep some earplugs close at hand today (Thursday).
The U.S. Army installation will host an active shooter preparedness exercise starting at 10 a.m. that could last “several hours” and involve loud noises, including simulated gunshots.
