VIRGINIA — When Fairfax County police investigate a shooting or a complaint about officers’ use of force, an independent county reviewer can examine whether the department investigated properly.
In most completed cases examined by Zark News, that independent review ended more than a year after the original incident.
But the county’s public records do not explain how that time was divided: how long police spent investigating, when the completed investigation reached the reviewer and how long the independent review took.
Zark News analyzed 103 cases that the county’s website listed with dates for both the police incident and the completed independent review. In 77 cases — about three-quarters — those dates were more than a year apart. The median, or middle interval, was 555 days, about 18 months.
That period includes time before the independent reviewer became involved. It is not a measure of how long the reviewer alone took.
What happens before a review is finished?
The county’s independent police auditor monitors and reviews internal police investigations involving shootings, deaths in custody and certain uses of force, including cases brought through public complaints.
In an October 30 written response to Zark News, the auditor’s office said it cannot finish its review until police complete their investigation. Some cases also require consideration by the Police Civilian Review Panel, the office said.
Zark News separately asked the Fairfax County Police Department how long its internal investigations typically take.
The department’s Public Affairs Bureau did not provide a typical duration. In its October 30 written response, the bureau said timing depends on the circumstances and complexity of each case, including the amount of evidence, the number of people involved and any additional investigative steps.
The department said its priority is a thorough, accurate and complete investigation before the file goes to the auditor.
A separate 60-day target
The auditor aims to publish findings within 60 days of gaining access to the completed police investigation, according to the county’s fiscal 2027 adopted budget. The budget says the office met that target for 81 percent of reports published in fiscal 2025.
That clock begins after the police investigation. Zark News’s incident-to-completion calculation begins earlier, so the two figures cannot establish whether the auditor met or missed its target in the cases analyzed.
About the analysis: Zark News calculated the time between incident and review-completion dates published on Fairfax County’s website as of October 30. Cases without completion dates were excluded. The calculation includes time before the independent review began.
