Fairfax County Police Not Expected to Assist D.C. with Planned Protests

Fairfax County police will not send officers to D.C. to assist with the First Amendment demonstrations set to take place tomorrow, police department spokesperson Sergeant Greg Bedor confirmed to Reston Now, Tysons Reporter’s sister site.

The region is anticipating thousands of Trump supporters to descend on the region to protest Wednesday’s Congressional certification of the presidential election. Since November, the president has made numerous unproven claims that the election was stolen.

Over the last several weeks, he’s also repeatedly encouraged supporters via social media to protest on January 6. One such tweet in December said, “Be there, be wild.” He even said he would be there himself.

Previous rallies in November and December both ended in violence, particularly after sunset.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay issued a statement yesterday advising residents to avoid the downtown area and to not engage with people potentially looking to incite violence. Arlington County has also disencouraged residents from going to D.C. to counter-protest.

Fairfax County police, along with a number of other local jurisdictions, have traditionally had mutual aid agreements in place with D.C. police, in case situations arise where help is needed.

However, Bedor says that he does not expect FCPD to be called into D.C. tomorrow. “The [D.C.] Mayor has arranged for other support, so our understanding [is] that’s been covered,” he says.

That other support is a reference to the D.C. National Guard being activated to provide traffic control and crowd management.