Prince William County Board Chair Wants 200 More Police Officers

Corey Stewart addresses series of recent violence

The chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors wants the county to look into public safety after a series of recent violence, including a fight inside Potomac Mills mall, an execution-style murder in Woodbridge and several recent sexual assaults.

Chairman Corey Stewart said he's concerned the uptick in violent crime could hurt tourism and growth.

“People are waking up, like, What’s going on?” Stewart said. “We’ve been used to decreasing crime over the last seven years. If this is the beginning of the reversal of that trend, we need to know about and we need to figure out if there’s a way to combat it.”

The county has 670 police officers, but Stewart said there should be 200 more, given the population.

An aide to Stewart told News4 the county should be adding about 25 officers per year but funding has only permitted about 10 per year.

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