Fairfax County Police Blotter

Fairfax County police blotter records are published and maintained by the Fairfax County Police Department, the largest local police agency in Virginia. With over 1.1 million residents, Fairfax County has one of the most robust public records systems in the state. You can access daily crime reports, download weekly crime data, use an interactive crime map, and search an arrest dashboard online. For detailed records not available on the public portal, you can file a FOIA request with the department directly.

Fairfax County Police Department

The Fairfax County Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for the county. It is Virginia's largest local police department. The FCPD employs hundreds of officers and covers one of the most densely populated jurisdictions in the mid-Atlantic region. The department maintains a substantial public records infrastructure, including online daily crime reports, downloadable data files, a crime mapping tool, and an arrest dashboard. For most types of blotter research, you can start online before ever making a formal records request.

The main FCPD headquarters is located at 12099 Government Center Pkwy in Fairfax. The non-emergency line is (703) 691-2131. For FOIA requests, the department has a dedicated email address: FCPDFOIA@fairfaxcounty.gov. The department also runs the Department of Public Safety Communications (DPSC), which has its own records portal at fairfaxcounty.gov/911/records. If you are looking for 911 call records or Computer-Aided Dispatch data, that is where to go.

The Fairfax County Police Department website is the central hub for daily crime reports, arrest data, crime mapping, and FOIA information for Fairfax County police blotter records.

Fairfax County Police Blotter Daily Crime Reports

The Fairfax County Police Department publishes Daily Crime Reports every weekday. These reports are the county's version of a traditional police blotter. Each report covers significant incidents and arrests from the prior day. Monday's report covers the weekend (Friday through Sunday). Reports include the type of incident, a general description, and the address rounded to the nearest 100th block for privacy reasons. These reports are publicly available on the FCPD website and do not require a records request to access.

Weekly crime data is also available for download from the FCPD. This data covers a rolling period and is formatted for analysis. If you want to track patterns in Fairfax County crime activity or compare week-to-week trends, the downloadable datasets are useful. You can also use CityProtect, the county's crime mapping tool, to see incidents plotted geographically. The Arrest Dashboard, built on ArcGIS, allows you to explore arrest data by offense type, district, and time period. These tools together give the public a detailed and real-time view of law enforcement activity in the county.

The FCPD Download Center provides weekly crime data files and statistical reports you can download to analyze Fairfax County police blotter activity over time.

Community Reporting System for Non-Emergency Incidents

The Fairfax County Police Department operates a Community Reporting System (CRS) that lets residents report certain non-emergency crimes online without calling dispatch or waiting for an officer. This tool is useful when an officer is not needed at the scene and no immediate safety risk exists. The CRS is available at fairfaxcounty.gov/police/HowDoI/CommunityReportingSystem.

Crimes that can be reported through the CRS include bicycle theft, vandalism, larceny from a vehicle, larceny under $10,000, lost property, suspicious activity, phone harassment, trespassing, and unoccupied hit-and-run incidents. These categories cover a wide range of common property crimes and nuisance activity. The CRS does not apply to breaking and entering, financial crimes, hate crimes, sex crimes, stolen vehicles, or any violent crime. Those incidents must be reported by calling 911 or the non-emergency line.

The Fairfax County Police Community Reporting System allows residents to file non-emergency incident reports online, which then become part of the county's police blotter records.

Note: Reports submitted through the CRS generate a case number. That number can be used to follow up on the incident or submit a FOIA request for the full report later.

Fairfax County Police FOIA Records Requests

For records beyond what the public portal provides, you can submit a FOIA request to the Fairfax County Police Department. Send written requests to FCPDFOIA@fairfaxcounty.gov or mail them to FCPD headquarters at 12099 Government Center Pkwy. The department operates under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, sections 2.2-3700 through 2.2-3714. The 5-business-day response requirement applies here as well.

Fairfax County is a large operation, and FOIA requests tend to be handled more formally than in smaller jurisdictions. Be precise about what you are requesting. Include the case number if you have it, the date range, the officer's name or badge number if relevant, and the specific type of record you want. Vague requests can result in over-broad responses or delays while staff seek clarification. Some records will be withheld. Active investigation files are exempt under Virginia Code section 52-8.3. Criminal history information falls under section 19.2-389.

The FCPD FOIA page explains how to submit records requests and what to expect during the review process for Fairfax County police blotter and incident records.

DPSC Records and 911 Call Data

The Fairfax County Department of Public Safety Communications manages the 911 system and related dispatch records. Their records portal at fairfaxcounty.gov/911/records provides information on how to request CAD records and 911 call logs. These records are separate from FCPD incident reports and require their own request process.

The Fairfax County DPSC records portal handles requests for 911 call data and Computer-Aided Dispatch records, which can supplement police blotter research for incidents in the county.

CAD records show when calls were received, what was dispatched, and when units arrived. They can be helpful when you want to verify what time law enforcement responded to an incident. DPSC records and FCPD incident records together give a more complete picture of any event. The two types of records are kept by separate agencies, so you may need to submit two requests if you want both.

Note: Virginia court case records for Fairfax County are searchable through the Virginia court case information system, where criminal cases filed in the 19th Judicial Circuit are indexed by party name and case number.

Nearby Counties

Fairfax County borders several major Northern Virginia jurisdictions. For incidents near county lines, confirm which agency responded before requesting records.