# Loudoun County Sheriff's Office

The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office (LCSO) is the primary law enforcement agency within Loudoun County, Virginia and is the largest Sheriff's Office in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The agency is currently headed by Sheriff Michael L. Chapman who was last re-elected in 2023.

## Organization

LCSO is headed by the Sheriff and is divided into three bureaus, each led by a Chief Deputy with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel: Field Operations, Investigations, and Administrative and Corrections. Bureaus are made up of one or more divisions, sections, and units.

### Rank Structure

| Title | Responsibilities / Information |
| Sheriff | Commander of the department. |
| Undersheriff (Colonel) | Second-in-command of the department; rank no longer used. |
| Chief Deputy (Lieutenant Colonel) | Commands a Bureau. |
| Major | Commands a Division. |
| Captain | Commands a Station or a Section. |
| First Lieutenant | Assistant Commander of a Station or a Section. |
| Second Lieutenant | Commander of a Unit or a patrol shift. |
| Sergeant | Supervisor within a Unit or patrol shift. |
| Master Deputy Sheriff | Competitive senior rank requiring 12 years of service. |
| Deputy First Class | Automatic promotion. |
| Deputy Sheriff | Automatic promotion. |
| Probationary Deputy | |

## Potential Transition to Police Department

Shortly after being re-elected in 2019, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Phyllis Randall proposed transitioning policing to a new police department while the sheriff would only be responsible for court related duties as is done in Prince William County and Fairfax County. Randall said the reason she proposed this is "I just simply don’t believe that law enforcement should be political." However, Sheriff Michael L. Chapman has stated that "[Loudoun Residents] are happy with the service they are getting, and it’s almost like, 'Why is there going to be a move to try and fix something that’s not broken?' it just seems to me to be a matter of just exercising power and control."
In 2012, the Board of Supervisors asked for a report about a potential transition and the commission responsible strongly recommended keeping the current system citing decreased state funding due to low crime rates and the idea that a police chief would be equally political when appointed.
To implement a police department a referendum is required and must be approved by voters in the county and enacted by the Virginia General Assembly.
In 2022, the Board of Supervisors announced that it would no longer seek the transition following an extensive report on the subject was released by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The report recommended that the transition not go forward due to several reasons, including the cost (estimated to be between $200 and $300 million), the LCSO's very high satisfaction rates among county citizens, and the low crime rate of the county.

## List of sheriffs

List of sheriffs of Loudoun County, Virginia :
| Number | Name | Term | Party | Electoral History |
| 1st | Aeneas Campbell | 1757 – Unknown | Independent | Appointed in 1757 at the creation of Loudoun County |
| Unknown | Elijah Viers White | 1867 – Unknown | Independent | Elected 1867 |
| Unknown | Thomas W. Edwards | January 1, 1908 – December 31, 1923 | Independent | Elected 1907 Re-elected 1911 Re-elected 1915 Re-elected 1919 |
| Unknown | Eugene Adrian | 1930s | Independent | Elected 1931 |
| Unknown | S. Paul Alexander | January 1, 1940 – June 5, 1951 | Democratic | Elected 1939 Re-elected 1943 Re-elected 1947 Resigned |
| Unknown | Carroll S. Hutchison | June 6, 1951 – December 31, 1951 | Independent | Appointed |
| Unknown | Roger Franklin Powell | January 1, 1952 – December 31, 1959 | Democratic | Elected in 1951 Re-elected in 1955 Lost re-election |
| Unknown | Maurice "Max" Dwyer | January 1, 1960 – December 31, 1963 | Democratic | Elected in 1959 |
| Unknown | Robert Willis Legard | January 1, 1964 – December 31, 1979 | Democratic | Elected 1963 Re-elected 1967 Re-elected 1971 Re-elected 1975 Lost re-election |
| Unknown | Donald L. Lacy | January 1, 1980 – December 31, 1983 | Republican | Elected in 1979 Retired |
| Unknown | John R. Isom | January 1, 1984 – December 31, 1995 | Democratic | Elected in 1983 Re-elected in 1987 Re-elected in 1991 Lost re-election |
| Unknown | Stephen O'Neil Simpson | January 1, 1996 – December 31, 2011 | Republican | Elected in 1995 Re-elected in 1999 Re-elected in 2003 Re-elected in 2007 Lost re-election |
| Unknown | Michael Louis Chapman | January 1, 2012 – present | Republican | Elected in 2011 Re-elected in 2015 Re-elected in 2019 Re-elected in 2023 |