Virginia town backs away from dissolving police department after citizen uproar

Amid backlash from residents, leaders in a Virginia town voted Tuesday to keep Purcellville's police force a week after they tried to eliminate it to save more than $3 million, according to reports. 

The town of Purcellville, located in Loudoun County, Virginia, has found itself around $50 million in the red following the construction of a major wastewater treatment facility, and the council sought to tighten the town’s budget by disbanding the local police department and relying on the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement.

The initial decision to dismantle the police department led to recall petitions to remove several council members and Vice Mayor Ben Nett from office. Council members who proposed eradicating the force said they wanted to do so to reduce water bills for the town’s 9,000 residents.

But the council reversed course and voted to fund the police force at $3.2 million for 2026 at a jam-packed town council meeting Tuesday where outraged residents and other officials voiced their concerns about the proposal.

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The result of the vote was met with cheers by residents in attendance. 

Residents who spoke during public comments said they didn’t want to get rid of the police department to save on water bills and criticized the council's vote two weeks ago without having public comment on that particular motion, according to Fox 5 DC.

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"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 said, ABC7 reports.

Sheriff Mike Chapman, of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, released a statement before the meeting saying the town council and manager had not discussed plans and said a transition could not happen in two months. 

The vote came amid a criminal investigation into Vice Mayor Ben Nett for potential violations of Virginia conflict of interest laws, according to Fox 5 DC. Nett was absent from Tuesday night’s meeting.

Nett was fired from the Purcellville Police Department on April 8 and within a week he voted to disband it with no effort to recuse himself, a letter from the Loudoun County Commonwealth's attorney states, per Fox 5 DC.

The council, meanwhile, has come under fire for other issues too, including appointing former Mayor Kwasi Fraser as town manager without the council interviewing the 82 candidates that applied.

Purcellville council member Erin Rayner said there’s been a lot of behavior that she found questionable since the new council took office earlier this year. 

"I am happy that it’s not just me and my fellow colleagues that are seeing this behavior and are seeing what’s going on and looking into it," Rayner said.