Police Chief Says FCPD Has Many Unmet Needs – Including A New Headquarters

Background

Police Chief Shahram Fard made a presentation to City Council on April 20, 2026, as part of the FY2027 budget discussions. The FY2027 budget included 14-15% salary increases for police officers due to the competitive market in Northern Virginia for sworn officers. Overall, the budget for the Department of Public Safety increased 9%. At $14.8 million, public safety accounts for 25% of the General Government operating budget.

Low crime rates in the City

Chief Fard reported to City Council at a work session on April 20 that preliminary statistics show decreases, almost across the board, in crime in Falls Church.  While the population of Falls Church has grown, crimes per 100,000 population are down 8%, violent crimes are down 26.67%, and crimes against persons are down 21%.  There was a minor increase in crimes against property, up slightly over 1%.

Police department needs modernizing.

However, these results mask significant needs within the Falls Church Police Department, Chief Fard said.  In the budget discussion, he highlighted unmet needs in the areas of staffing for nonsworn positions, the police fleet, systems and technology, and facility needs.  The combination of these requirements is affecting the work being done by the City’s sworn officers. 

Many tasks in the Police Department are still manual processes.  Crime reports, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and even citations are still processed by hand.  This increases the time needed to produce reports, is subject to error, and takes sworn officers away from patrols and responding to calls for service.

The City needs a new police headquarters

The most significant of the department’s needs from a cost standpoint are its facility needs.  The police headquarters shares parking with the general public and is regularly disrupted by City events such as the Farmers Market and annual celebrations such as the Memorial Day and the Fall Festivals. As an example of the conflicts that can occur, officers may be moving weapons to police vehicles parked near families with young children visiting the neighboring Community Center.  The station does not have facilities for physical training or enough lockers, and this lack of sufficient space forces inappropriate overlap of public areas and what should be secured operational areas.

During the FY2027-2031 Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) process, a new item was added for a dedicated Public Safety Headquarters in the 10-year pipeline. This pipeline is for projects that are not currently budgeted in the 6-year CIP window. The project description states:

 “The scope of this project is to design and construct a Public Safety Facility to house the City’s Police Department and other public safety functions. The proposed facility will provide a modern, secure, and resilient space designed to meet current operational needs and accommodate projected future staffing growth. The project includes land acquisition, architectural and engineering design, and construction of a multi-story facility with structured parking, fleet support areas, emergency operations space, and community-facing functions.” 

A Public Facilities Planning project has been proposed for FY2027 to analyze the requirements for both Public Safety and Public Works (the Property Yard). [For background on prior Property Yard discussions, see the Pulse post City Discusses Final ULI Report, Plans Next Steps to Redevelop 15-acre Gordon Road Triangle,October 9, 2025.]

Fleet replacement schedule has not been met

The police vehicle fleet has a replacement schedule of six years for patrol cars and 10 years for other vehicles. That schedule is not being met. Chief Fard reported that over half of the patrol vehicles are older than six years with some approaching 11 to 12 years old.  A consistent source of funding is needed to ensure that the fleet replacement can follow the prescribed schedule.  Once up to date, $350,000 annually will be required, while the City’s entire budget for its 90+ vehicles, including Public Works and the Schools, is only $360,000 annually.

Staffing and technology needs

On the staffing front, the two direst needs for FY2027 are a full-time position as public information officer (PIO) and FOIA coordinator and a half-time position for background investigations. FOIA requests are increasing due to the availability of body camera footage and public requests for other information. Manual processing by operational staff delays responses to the public. The department had to reduce staffing by 0.85 full-time equivalent (FTE) for FY2027.  Salary levels are being increased for entry-level officers because of competition with surrounding jurisdictions, and Federal policing needs. While the culture in the FCPD is very good, according to Chief Fard, competitive pay is also needed to attract and retain officers.

For technology, the FCPD has standardized laptops and docking stations to facilitate equipment maintenance and replacement. Software needs that had been covered by grant funds in the past must now be absorbed into the budget. An electronic citation system would significantly reduce administrative time currently undertaken by patrol officers. An online crime reporting system for the public would also greatly reduce the burden on officers. Currently, to report a crime, the incident is called in, and an officer is dispatched to the address to take the report. 

Traffic enforcement

Mayor Letty Hardi noted that the most common community concern she hears is about traffic enforcement. Chief Fard said there are currently two sworn officers dedicated to traffic enforcement, but they are also half-time on other activities related to community policing. The other 14 officers respond to calls and prioritize community policing, including traffic enforcement. Chief Fard also noted that while the Virginia General Assembly did not grant any additional automated traffic control authorities that would be useful to Falls Church, the four existing red-light cameras are in the process of being moved to new locations and should be active soon.

Projects to improve FCPD efficiency and achieve accreditation

There are two major projects being undertaken by the FCPD that the Chief said will provide a strategic path to improvement in efficiency and resource allocation. The Matric Consulting Group is performing an analysis of staff usage and policies that will be delivered this summer. 

The FCPD is also in the middle of a three-year accreditation process designed to bring best practices nationally to the FCPD. This was a City Council priority since learning that the police department had lost its accreditation in 2023. When Chief Fard joined FCPD in 2024, he restarted the accreditation process but, due to budget constraints, was only able to add a Professional Standards Manager to oversee the process in FY2026. FCPD hopes to achieve accreditation in 2027. The timeline is below.

Community satisfaction

While over 86% of the population are satisfied with the police service in a recent survey, improvements can be made to increase efficiency and more effectively use the resources the department has available. Policing is expensive and a growing, rapidly changing environment requires adjustment. With increasing scams, fraud, and population growth, we are not the Falls Church of the 1950s or 1960s anymore.