Sheriff outlines crime trends, explains jail-only ICE warrant‑service agreement and new behavioral‑health support

Sheriff Michael Chapman told the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on May 6 that the sheriff’s office recently signed a warrant‑service agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that applies only within the county’s adult detention center, and does not authorize deputies to perform immigration enforcement in the community.

Chapman said the agreement formalizes an existing practice under a jail‑enforcement model: when someone arrested on local criminal charges enters the county jail, deputies run criminal history and an immigration alien query. If ICE notifies the jail of interest, the agency may seek to pick up the person when the local custody ends. The agreement permits trained deputy warrant‑service officers to sign custodial paperwork and give ICE a 48‑hour window to take custody if ICE cannot arrive before a scheduled release.

The sheriff framed the agreement as public‑safety driven: “It is irresponsible to release serious criminals who are in The US illegally back to our community when they are wanted by ICE on other charges and pose a threat to our citizens,” Chapman said. He emphasized the office does not participate in 287(g) task‑force field operations and “we do not go out and arrest people for immigration violations.”

Lieutenant Colonel Chris Sawyer delivered the quarterly operational report. He said Part 1 serious crime is down about 25% year‑to‑date and Part 2 crime is down about 10%. The department reported a 30% increase in traffic stops quarter‑over‑quarter — part of a proactive enforcement push that staff linked to a countywide reduction in crashes and a 25% drop in overall crime. Sawyer said vehicle‑theft and firearm‑theft from vehicles are down, opioid overdoses were lower in the quarter, and the corrections division passed an unannounced Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails inspection with full compliance.

Sawyer flagged rapid growth in financial‑crime investigations, especially cryptocurrency fraud. He described a successful tracing operation that led to returning $1,400,000 to a victim in a recent case; detectives are now working around the clock in some cases to trace blockchain flows and attempt to freeze funds in transit.

Supervisors pressed the sheriff’s team on the ICE process and record releases. Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer described booking‑time database queries and said DHS/ICE notifies the jail if they have an interest; a warrant‑service officer will execute paperwork to detain and transfer a person to ICE within the 48‑hour window. Sheriff Chapman and staff said ICE does not pick up every detainer and that ICE is responsible for medical costs if a detainee has an emergency while awaiting pickup.

On record‑release policies, the sheriff said a 2013 Loudoun court decision limits the office’s contemporaneous public release of arrest records to about one to two weeks; criminal‑history requests beyond that are treated differently under state law and court precedent, staff said.

Several supervisors pressed the sheriff about racial disparities in stops and searches shown in the report; the sheriff’s office said it routinely reviews stop/search data and that many recent increases in vehicle stops and searches were linked to targeted DUI and traffic enforcement and did not, in most cases, produce immediate custodial arrests.

The sheriff closed by noting multiple significant investigations in the quarter — including quick arrests in a Broadlands homicide and an Internet child‑exploitation operation — and by thanking deputies and corrections staff for recent awards and accreditations.