Virginia | October 26, 2021
Judge Finds Teenager Guilty in Loudoun County Bathroom Assault
Virginia | October 26, 2021
A Virginia judge on Monday found a teenage boy guilty of sexually assaulting a schoolmate.
The crime took place at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn on May 28.
The boy, 15, was convicted on one count of forcible sodomy and one count of forcible fellatio, both felonies, local media reported.
“I found the facts sufficient to support the charges,” Pamela Brooks, the chief judge of the county’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, said during the hearing, according to WTOP.
The victim said she and the boy had consensual sexual encounters before the assault but that she did not consent to what he did in May.
A defense attorney for the boy tried arguing that his client reasonably believed he had permission because of the previous encounters.
Neither the girl nor the boy are being named because they are juveniles…. (Excerpts from the Epoch Times)
Virginia | August 3, 2021
VA Sheriffs Pull Endorsement of Democratic AG Over ‘Defund’ Movement
Virginia | August 3, 2021
Virginia attorney general Mark Herring (D.) wrongly touted the endorsement of two local sheriffs who instead backed Herring’s GOP opponent, citing the Democratic Party’s push to defund police.
Herring released an endorsement list Monday that included Smyth County sheriff Chip Shuler and Dickenson County sheriff Jeremy Fleming. In a Monday afternoon statement, Shuler said Herring’s endorsement list “erroneously listed my name,” adding that Herring “should know because I left the Democrat Party in the same way they left law enforcement.”
“I am now a proud member of the Republican Party because I see that they are the party that stands with and supports law enforcement,” Shuler said. “Let me be clear—in the race for Attorney General, not only will I be endorsing Republican Challenger Jason Miyares, but I will be casting my ballot for him in November.”
Herring deleted the initial endorsement announcement, releasing an updated list Monday night that removed Shuler but included Fleming. The Dickenson County sheriff responded by issuing a Tuesday statement endorsing Miyares and accusing Herring of abandoning law enforcement “over the past eight years.”
“As the extreme wings of the party degraded us and called for us to be disbanded and defunded, Mark Herring did nothing—he left us defenseless and unsupported,” Fleming said. “This is why despite my political affiliation with the Democrat Party, I am publicly endorsing Jason Miyares for Attorney General—NOT Mark Herring.”.. (Excerpts from Washington Free Beacon)
Virginia | July 6, 2021
Southwest Virginia’s Police Officers Quitting at Alarming Rate
Virginia | July 6, 2021
“In total, Roanoke County saw 28 of its police officers leave during 2020, about one-fifth of its department,” The Roanoke Times reported. “That is both abnormal and normal all at once — abnormal because it’s twice as high as the turnover the agency would expect in a typical year. Normal because it tracks with a surge in police departures unfolding nationwide.”
After several volatile years culminating in a summer of massive riots around the country in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, many police in urban areas are simply walking off the job.
In Minneapolis, where George Floyd died at the hands of Derek Chauvin, the ex-Minneapolis police officer who has been convicted of murder, the city began 2021 with 200 fewer officers on the force than it did in 2020. More than 150 officers there were on “extended leave” and several more took early retirement.
The Seattle Police declared a “staffing crisis” earlier this year. In Louisville, Kentucky, the depleted police force lost 20 percent of its officers.
All three of those cities saw mass rioting and lawlessness last summer…
(Excerpts from the Virginia Star)
Virginia | June 3, 2021
Three Virginia Sheriffs Switch From Democrats to Republicans Over Anti-Police Rhetoric
Virginia | June 3, 2021
A sheriff in Virginia has switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican due to rhetoric expressed by certain some Democratic politicians.
Smyth County Sheriff Chip Shuler, who was elected as a Democrat in 2015, said in a statement that he’s making the choice because, according to him, police officers have faced attacks from Democrat politicians in Virginia and nationwide.
“I am changing to the Republican Party because of the relentless attack on law enforcement by Democrats in Richmond and Washington,” Shuler said in his statement last week. “My deputies work hard to serve and protect the citizens of Smyth County. As sheriff, it has been difficult to watch my deputies try to move forward during this unprecedented assault on our profession. We [law enforcement] remain an honorable profession and should not be judged by the bad acts of a few. I have always been a conservative throughout my law enforcement career of 38 years.”..
(Excerpts from the Epoch Times)
Virginia | May 16, 2021
Police Lieutenant Who Was Fired for Donating to Kyle Rittenhouse Files Grievance
Virginia | May 16, 2021
A former Norfolk, Virginia, police lieutenant who was fired by the department after donating to an anonymous fundraiser for Kyle Rittenhouse said that he was fired just days after he made the donation and is now seeking due process.
Norfolk Police Lt. William Kelly said that he was fired from the Norfolk Police Department in April and was left with a number of penalties, including no health insurance for his wife, who is sick with cancer, and their three children. Rittenhouse, meanwhile, faces several charges including murder and being in possession of a firearm after he was accused of fatally shooting two and injuring a third person during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year. The teen maintains he was defending himself…
(Excerpts from the Epoch Times)
Virginia | May 9, 2021
Police Departments Say Budget Cuts Are the Reason They’ve Been Unable to Hire New Officers
Virginia | May 9, 2021
Multiple police departments told the Daily Caller News Foundation that recruiting officers is not an issue, but budget constraints have limited their ability to increase manpower.
Almost a year after George Floyd died during an arrest where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes resulting in nationwide civil unrest and the defund the police movement, most police departments say they still have a sufficient number of candidates but lack the funding to recruit them.
“The Minneapolis Police Department, like every department, has seen a drop in application numbers over the last several years,” Minneapolis Police Department Spokesperson John Elder told the DCNF. “Whereas we have seen a reduction in applications, we still have ample qualified candidates who wish to be Minneapolis Police Officers and Cadets [and the department’s] recruitment efforts are ongoing.”
The Minneapolis Police Academy managed to get every recruit to graduation despite civil unrest and demands to cut their department’s funding in June 2020, the DCNF reported. Elder told the DCNF at the time that there were fewer applications to become an officer, but those who were recruited all completed their training.
The San Francisco Police Department has seen a decrease in the number of applicants in the last five years, spokesperson Michael Andraychak told the DCNF. The department received around 4,800 applications from 2015 to 2016 and roughly 2,600 from 2019 to 2020, down approximately 375 from the previous year..
(Excerpts from The Virginia Star)