Prince William County is working to make sure new real estate developments provide the funding and facilities necessary for proper police protection.
County staff members are looking to add a chapter on law enforcement to the long-term plan.
The county needs to clearly state its needs in the plan to be well-positioned for negotiations with developers.
The county wants to at least double the number of officers and add two new police stations and eight new administrative support facilities by 2025 to handle projected population growth. Proffers, the amount of moneya developer must contribute to mitigate the impact of a new project, will likely help offset the cost.
“What we are attempting to do is ensure that the proffers reflect all the capital improvement impacts of new development,” said Sean Connaughton, Prince William Board of County Supervisors chair.
The supervisors approved a 64 percent increase in proffers to $37,000 per single-family home in April. Proffers now help pay for the schools, roads and fire protection needed to cover new residents.
They are not used, however, to fund police protection. Expanding the plan would begin to change that.
For example, the county acquired land at a much higher cost than originally expected for a central police station at the McCoart complex, Connaughton said.
“We anticipate construction costs will be much higher and the proffer will help to offset the costs of that station, as well as the capital needs to train additional personnel and in the long term have a consolidated headquarters facility,” he said.
The county has also been hiring an average of 20 to 25 officers a year to keep up with the growing population and tourism, said Tom Pulaski, senior administrative manager for the county police.
“We know roughly about every 10 years we need another police station,” Pulaski said.
