Virginia town backtracks on dissolving police force after public fury, criminal probe

Residents in Purcellville, Virginia, appeared to successfully pressure the town council on Tuesday to backtrack from its plan to dissolve the local police force.

Purcellville Town Council members voted on April 9 to eliminate the police department, citing multiple reasons, including staffing issues. They argued that the move would save the town more than $3 million after falling into $50 million of debt to construct a wastewater treatment plant.

'The four of you snuck agenda items in at the end of the meeting and took away my lawful right to comment on them.'

The town council hinged its support for the department's elimination on the fact that Purcellville is rated as one of the safest towns in the state, and the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office already patrols the town from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. The sheriff's office also manages school resource officers.

However, locals felt that the town council concocted the plan to dismantle the police force behind closed doors and failed to seek input.

"The four of you snuck agenda items in at the end of the meeting and took away my lawful right to comment on them," one resident told the council, according to WJLA.

The sheriff's office released a statement that appeared to support residents' concerns.

"Loudoun Sheriff Mike Chapman has neither been consulted about nor agrees with the representations in the document published in the Purcellville Town Council meeting packet describing the dissolution of its Police Department and replacement with services provided by the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office," the statement read. "Unfortunately, nothing in the published document has been discussed with Sheriff Chapman or the LCSO's Leadership Team."

"While the LCSO is willing to provide law enforcement support and services to the Town of Purcellville, the Town Council has no jurisdiction to place conditions or requirements on the LCSO should its Police Department be dissolved," the sheriff's office added.

Outraged residents packed the town council's Tuesday meeting to express their disapproval of the plan. Locals also launched a recall effort to remove several council members and Vice Mayor Ben Nett.

During the meeting, the council members seemed to cave under the community's pressure, voting instead to fund the police force through next year. However, members plan to hold a full budget session to consider the department's future.

The vote to keep the police force followed news on Monday that the Office of Attorney General authorized the state police to open a criminal investigation into Nett over a potential conflict of interest — while serving as vice mayor, Nett was also employed with the Purcellville Police Department. He was terminated from the force earlier this month.

Commonwealth's attorney Bob Anderson stated that Nett has been "prevented from accessing all police department records, voting on all matters involving the PPD and attending all meetings involving discussions about PPD."

Anderson claimed that Nett's support of disbanding the department appeared to be a "retaliation" over his recent termination and "a blatant conflict of interest."

Nett did not respond to WTTF's request for comment.

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