As police department turns 40, top cop comments

The Prince William County Police Department will turn 40 next month and they want you to come and celebrate with them.

The party starts at 11 a.m. Saturday on the Sean T. Connaughton Plaza, behind the McCoart Building off Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge. All of the usual outdoor family fun activities are planned, like a dunk tank, face painting, moon bounce and an appearance by McGruff the Crime Dog.

But those who are curious about how police officers do their jobs and those who want to know more about the tools they use will get a behind the scenes look. Scheduled to be on display is the major crimes and incident command unit, Command One, the SWAT team, scuba team, forensic unit, mounted patrol and Marine One – Prince William County’s watercraft patrol unit – just to name a few, according to the county police Web site.

Police equipment, old and new, will also be on display. And so will a chronology of major events in Prince William County’s history. They’ll also have a vintage county police cruiser on display.

The police department formed in July 1970, taking over major policing operations from the Prince William County Sheriff’s Department, said police chief Charlie T. Deane. He was promoted to chief in 1988 but was recruited to the force from the Virginia State Police the same year the department began, when the county’s population was just over 100,000 people.

“We were all very excited about embarking on a new segment of our careers and establishing a new department,” said Deane. “Back then we were all generalists. We had K9s and the motorcycles, but over time, because of the demand for the services we developed more specialization.”

Now nearly 400,000 people live in the county and the department in recent years has seen its fair share of tough cases, including the Lexie Glover case in 2009, the Smith murders in Dale City in 2008 and the Bobbit case in 1993, when at 26, Lorena Bobbit used a knife to sever her husband’s penis.

She was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Her husband, John Wayne Bobbit, went on to star in a pornographic film after having the organ reattached.