Purcellville Town Council votes in favor of eliminating its police department | Law Enforcement Today

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA - On Tuesday night, April 8th, the Purcellville Town Council voted to being the process to eliminate its police department, which traces its roots back to 1908. 

According to WJLA, in a 4-2 vote, with one absent member, the council members voted to have its staff write up an ordinance that would effectively eliminate the Purcellville Police Department (PPD). Before and after Tuesday's meeting and vote, those who criticized the move made their voices heard.

Purcellville resident Christie Morgan yelled during Wednesday night's council meeting, "You are defunding the police that protect this town! No! I am not going to stop talking. This is ridiculous." After leaving Town Hall, Morgan said that she is not only frustrated that the councilmembers came to the decision to dissolve the police department, but that she also believes the process was not at all transparent.

She said, "To see them throw out they're going to defund the police without any conversation with the minority councilmembers nor anybody in the public, they haven't spoken to anybody about this. You can't make a decision like this, taking away this type of service to your town, without speaking to your constituents."

The vote comes after low crime statistics led to Purcellville being declared the safest town in Virginia in 2024. Purcellville Council Member Erin Rayner, one of the two members who voted against the measure, said, "We are currently the safest town in Virginia. We will no longer be." She said she had no idea it was going to be brought up at the budget meeting on Tuesday night, adding, "I think it was really, really ignorant to railroad us like that, to say we're going to defund the police and get rid of them."

The council voted on the police department motion in the final minutes of the meeting on Tuesday. During the meeting, you could hear shouts of disapproval from the crowd over council members' microphones. Defending the decision to get rid of the police department, Council Member Susan Khalil said, "We don't have coverage between 1 and 6:00 a.m., the turnover, we don't have a full force ever, so the services are no longer commensurate with the tax dollars."

When it was her turn to talk about the motion, Rayner shot back saying, "This is reckless and ignorant to go this path so quickly without even having proper discussions with Virginia State Police, with Loudoun Sheriff to see what this would look like. Shame on all of you."

Outside of Town Hall on Wednesday night, Josh Shields manned a table, trying to get signatures to recall for four members of the council — including the mayor and vice mayor — who voted in favor of dissolving the police department. He said, "I'm usually not a political person. The reality is, last night's town council meeting got me heated. The four members of the majority council have been introducing motions last moment, changing up the agenda, not taking public input, not taking input from staff. Last night was the tipping point."

Cody Trail was one of the residents to sign the petitions. He said, "Last night's last-moment agenda items were just totally over the edge. You wouldn't know there was a problem with our police department. You wouldn't know there was a need to abolish them. We wouldn't know that because they're such a secure, safe town."

Purcellville's mayor and vice mayor were among the council members who voted in support of the measure aimed at eliminating the police department, which the final vote for could happen as early as April 22nd. Mayor Christopher Bertaut defended the move to get rid of the police department by pointing out that the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office would take over the law enforcement duties.

He said, "We already have a strong law enforcement presence from the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and we hope to extend that partnership to take over the services for policing. Next steps are to initiate a stronger series of discussions with the sheriff's office to discuss how to cleanly and smoothly transition over to coverage by the sheriff's office and to work through the various steps, in terms of records transfers. Some of that will take a good period of time. I would anticipate there would be some involvement by the town for a period of a good year, even after July 1st of this year."

Spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office said, in part, "While the LCSO had no part in the action taken by the Purcellville Town Council last night, we are aware of Purcellville's law enforcement concerns and have recently engaged in informal, information-gathering conversations.

Sheriff Chapman does not have a position for or against taking over policing services in Purcellville, but has, and will continue to offer whatever assistance Purcellville needs to keep its citizens safe. He is open to further conversation with all stakeholders that address public expectations, scope of services, staffing, current officers and assets, cost, and timing."

Rayner was upset by Vice Mayor Ben Nett's vote because until last week, he had worked for the police department. She said he was removed from his job after internal investigations, and after he was placed on the "Brady List," which negatively impacts an officer's credibility as a court witness. 

Rayner said, "The vice mayor was on the Purcellville PD until Friday, and now, on Tuesday, he voted to eliminate the whole PD. I don't think that is right. I don't know how that's legal. I don't know how there's not a conflict of interest that he's allowed to vote on this."