On Saturday, January 30th, dozens of residents from Prince William County and Washington, D.C. banded together outside the McCoart Building, bracing the cold to deliver impassioned speeches in opposition to the hiring of incoming Police Chief Peter Newsham.

Newsham, the former Metropolitan Police Department Chief, has come under fire since his appointment in November to become the new chief in Prince William County. He comes to the Commonwealth’s second-largest county with a checkered history and calls for rescinding his appointment have been widespread.

Organizers circulated a flyer entitled “Defend Prince William County” to demand that Prince William County: fire police chief Newsham immediately;  address the use of racial profiling within the Prince William County Police Department, and respect the civil rights of Black Lives Matter protestors.

The flyer cited Newsham’s history of abuse pertaining to his professional tenure and personal life, including: a domestic dispute in 2002 in which Newsham’s ex-wife filed a restraining order against him for abuse; Newsham’s department’s longstanding history of disproportionately targeting Black people, including children; The deaths of Karon Hylton and Deon Kay, two Black men who were killed by the PWCPD under his tenure just this past summer; and Newsham’s ordering of the “unlawful” arrests of copious numbers of Black Lives Matter protestors on June 1st, which resulted in 300 protest-related charges and the use of dangerous, “less-lethal” crowd control measures.

In addressing the use of racial profiling within PWCPD, the flyer describes “a multitude of community members” who have come forward to “share stories of abuse” to which the Prince William County Board of Supervisors “invalided their experiences” and “provided the PWCPD with more money and performative tasks forces and commissions that feature members of the police department” without “addressing the root cause of these problems”.

The flyer states that “the hiring of Peter Newsham has destroyed people’s confidence in the judgment of the Board of County Supervisors and the possibility that they would establish any type of meaningful oversight.” In response, the organizers have established a community hotline for residents to confidentially report any abuse of power at the hands of the PWCPD, whereby individuals may leave a message at: 571-249-2975.

On a separate flyer, organizers provided various alternatives to calling the police, including local resources for mediation, substance use, domestic & sexual violence, victim support, mental health, homeless youth, and food & shelter.

During the rally, several speakers voiced their opposition to Newsham’s appointment, which was approved by a bipartisan 7 to 1 vote by the Board of County Supervisors last November. Only Woodbridge District Supervisor Margaret Franklin abstained from the vote. 

“Today we stand in the wake of a Board of County Supervisors who privately voted to appoint a police chief who is known for domestic abuse and the covering up on sexual assault charges for his officers,” said one young man. “His leadership in DC conspired with racist hate groups earlier this month to take over the Capitol and oversaw last summer the violent assault of three speakers protesting to end this system of incarceration.”

Another young lady stated: “We’re all tired and frustrated, living in a county where the people and the power do not care about us. We should not have to protest in the freezing cold, during a pandemic, just to be heard. He shouldn’t have to be hired here to begin with. Policing is a way to criminalize and disenfranchise black and brown people and anyone who isn’t a part of the group in power. It doesn’t matter how diverse your department is if you’re still killing them in the streets. We know he implements stop and frisk, tear gas, and mass arrests to stop protestors fighting for racial justice.”

Idris O’Connor, a Democratic candidate for Delegate in the 31st House District who was in attendance stated, “It was great to see members of the community come out to exercise their first amendment rights. I hope the community continues to speak out and call for the Prince William County Board of Supervisors to rescind the offer to hire Peter Newsham.”

As the speakers concluded, protestors marched from the McCoart building down PW Parkway, briefly stopping at cross streets to continue handing out flyers. The march down the PW Parkway lasted approximately 45 minutes before participants gathered once again to hear from D.C. residents (who had previously protested for his removal from the District of Colombia) share their first-hand experiences with Newsham, elaborating on his abusive track-record.