Those attending Fairfax County School Board meetings in the future may need to give themselves a little extra time to get settled in.
Starting this school year, Fairfax County Public Schools announced that it will expand its growing weapons screening program to school board meetings, requiring attendees to pass through OpenGate detectors before gaining entry.
Yesterday (Tuesday) marked a major milestone in the future of Fairfax County’s emergency response: one of the agency’s first uses of artificial intelligence.
For a brief period of time that day, the county’s Department of Public Safety Communications (DPSC) tested an AI system to triage select calls for service to the non-emergency line, officials announced.
With friction growing between the public and school leaders over policy decisions, Fairfax County Public Schools is in the process of hiring security for its superintendent due to the need for additional protection over safety concerns.
The move has left legislative leaders curious if similar proposals could occur at other school divisions around the region and beyond, as school leaders continue to be challenged by the public and face investigations for their decisions.
Though fireworks are a traditional staple of Independence Day celebrations, they tend to be less welcome even on that occasion when unleashed without warning.
Such was the case last Friday (July 4) at a McDonald’s in Reston. Multiple people reportedly set off fireworks inside the fast-food restaurant, sparking havoc as patrons and employees fled the quickly smoke-filled scene.
Due to budget cuts, the Fairfax County Police Department is no longer offering free child car seat installations and inspections.
The department officially terminated its child safety seat program this past Tuesday (July 1), which marked the first day of fiscal year 2026.
A new initiative reporting crime data from across the D.C. region in “near-real time” has won praise from local leaders and will provide new tools for policymakers, public safety agencies and the public.
“It’s the only one we’re aware of in the nation,” said Eli Russ, a senior public safety planner for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), who serves as project manager for the effort.
Fairfax County will expand its speed camera program to 10 more public schools this summer, several months after it announced plans to install the devices.
After giving the public notice on Monday (June 2), the county will roll out the new cameras in two batches, starting with three cameras in early July. Another seven cameras will come online in mid-August before the next school year gets underway.
Fairfax County and hundreds of other localities across the country were labeled “sanctuary jurisdictions” last week by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for limiting their cooperation with federal immigration officials.
The department accused the localities on the list — which was published on its website last Thursday (May 29) before apparently being removed over the weekend — of obstructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from enforcing federal immigration laws, stating that they will all receive formal notices of non-compliance.
The Fairfax County Police Department is on track to meet staffing goals by the end of the decade, if it can maintain recent hiring momentum.
“We feel really comfortable about where we are,” Police Chief Kevin Davis said in a briefing for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ Safety and Security Committee on Tuesday (May 20).
Starting next week, Fairfax County Public Schools will begin rolling out a pilot program intended to prevent guns and other weapons from being brought into school buildings.
Randomly selected high schools in the district will see the installation of OpenGate detectors at the building’s main doors, allowing students, faculty and visitors to be screened when entering the school.
