STAFFORD SHERIFF’S RACE: Candidates talk crime rate, opioids, school protection officers

STAFFORD — David Decatur is seeking a second term as Stafford County Sheriff.

With the Republican nomination, the 33-year veteran of the Stafford sheriff’s office is hanging his hat on his experience, community involvement, and work to improve pay and recruit new deputies to the force.

Decatur worked with the Stafford Board of Supervisors to develop and manage his agency’s budget, and he has seen many budget successes during his tenure. A total of 29 new deputy positions were added.

Additional money he’s obtained from the Board of Supervisors means the starting pay for deputies has increased from $43,000 to $48,600 annually with no experience. To enhance recruiting, deputy candidates with Virginia law enforcement certification will receive 1.5% additional starting pay for each year of Virginia law enforcement experience. 

The pay adjustments come as Stafford tries to compete with law enforcement agencies not only in Northern Virginia but also with federal agencies all looking to hire. Decatur also worked with the Board of Supervisors to place three “school protection” officers at elementary schools in the county, following a mass shooting at Stoneman Douglass High School in Parkland, Fla. 

The county’s population has also grown under Decatur’s tenure. Now with nearly 150,000 residents, Stafford is the third-fastest growing community in Virginia.

The county’s overall crime rate continues to decrease despite population growth, down by almost 12% from 2017 (5.22 per 100 residents) to 2018 (4.60 per 100 residents).

“With the county’s continued population growth, this decrease is a good indicator that our community policing, strong partnerships with businesses, citizens and elected officials are effective,” Decatur said.

Decatur’s election announcement comes the same month as three shootings in the county — two of them fatal. His detectives are working to solve a shooting on July 3 that killed one man and left another woman in critical condition at a 5 Twelve gas station on Route 610 in North Stafford.

“I don’t want to say too much about that, as that could compromise the investigation,” Decatur told Potomac Local.

A shooting at a Days Inn on Simpson Lane off Route 17 on Saturday left a 17-year-old teen wounded and 18-year-old Woodbridge man facing charges.

In a separate incident on July 21, investigators said a man shot killed his 78-year-old grandfather at the Clearview Mobile Home Park in the Boswell’s Corner section of the county, near Telegraph Road.

Voters elected Decatur sheriff in 2015. Prior to that, Decatur spent the previous 15 years working under Sheriff Charlie Jett, who earned the county a reputation of being tough on crime. Decatur said his department has grown and changed with the times since Jett’s retirement, but that he’s tried to retain the leadership style exuded by Jett.

“I learned so much from him during my tenure, so when I won it was a seamless transition,” said Decatur.

Decatur is facing competition from one of his former deputies, Chad Oxley, whose been erecting signs across the county. He’s running as an independent.

Oxley is a newcomer to politics in the county. He previously worked for the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office Unit Commander of the Special Investigations Unit (Narcotics, Gangs, Vice), and General Assignment Unit (Property/Financial Crimes) within the Criminal Investigations Division.

Oxley says the county has seen an increase in violent crimes committed by gang members, and that it’s time for the sheriff’s office to become a member of the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Taskforce, whose members include Fairfax, Prince William, and smaller cities like Manassas and Manassas Park, and the Town of Dumfries.

“When you have an issue, you get the entire task force in Stafford to work the case,” said Oxley.

The number of gang-related incidents is not included in the Stafford sheriff’s annual report. Those statistics could not immediately be provided to Potomac Local when we asked for them.

Oxley would work also to expand the number of school protection officers in elementary schools and aim to work more work closely with federal agencies in the event of major incidents. He also says he’ll assign two detectives exclusively to opioid cases, removing them from a pool of detectives who work non-drug overdose cases.

Last year, the sheriff’s office was called to 99 cases of opioid overdoses — a 200% increase over the previous year, according to the department’s annual report. A total of 33 of those overdoses were fatal.

Voters will head to the polls on Nov. 5.