Retired Prince William County police chief tapped for research honors

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) will present its highest honor, the Leadership Award, to Charlie Deane, who recently retired as Chief of Police in Prince William County, VA.

PERF’s Leadership Award is presented annually to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of law enforcement, and who exemplify the highest principles and standards of true leaders in policing.

Deane began his 46-year career in law enforcement in 1965 with the Virginia State Police until 1970, when he joined the newly created Prince William County Police Department. He served 12 years as a criminal investigator and rose through the ranks to become deputy chief in 1985, and police chief in 1988

At the time of his retirement in September 2012, he led a department with more than 750 employees serving a diverse population of nearly 400,000 residents.

Chief Deane is highly respected among his fellow police chiefs nationwide, and among that group, he is most well-known for his leadership on the issue of immigration enforcement.

In 2007, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted to pass one of the most aggressive enforcement policies in the nation. Chief Deane, acting according to his philosophy of policing in a “fair, lawful, and reasonable” manner, convinced the Board to scale back its plan and provide the Police Department with time to develop policy, train officers, create a special unit of officers who would receive special federal training on immigration enforcement, conduct a public education campaign to reach all segments of the community (particularly the immigrant populations most affected by the changes), and contract with a university to evaluate the impact of the new policy.

Because Deane had a long history of building partnerships and working closely with the community, he enjoyed extremely strong public support, with a 92% citizen satisfaction rating. This support contributed to the Board of Supervisors’ decision to quickly accept Deane’s more moderate immigration enforcement plan, which became a national model. Deane’s leadership on the immigration issue was documented in the film, 9500 Liberty.