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BY: STAFF REPORT - APRIL 4, 2024

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LEGAL ISSUES
Fairfax police academy bars Herndon officers in dispute over Chinese signature

The town police chief objected to a Chinese signature on county training academy certificates. Now her officers will be excluded from future classes.

By Tom Jackman
April 3, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

When 61 law enforcement trainees graduated last month from Fairfax County’s Criminal Justice Training Academy, including county police officers and some from smaller departments in Fairfax, each received a certificate signed by the academy’s director, county police Maj. Wilson Lee, who is Chinese American.

Lee, whose given name is Lee Wai-Shun, signed the certificates in Chinese, as he typically does. Among those who received certificates March 7 were three new officers from the Herndon town police force — the first trainees from that department to attend the academy since Lee took command more than a year ago. When Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard noticed the Chinese signature shortly before the graduation ceremony, she was not pleased.

“This is not acceptable for my agency,” she told Lee in an email. “I don’t want our Herndon officers to receive these.”

Not only did Fairfax County refuse to issue new certificates as DeBoard requested, but a top Fairfax official also has notified DeBoard that Herndon police trainees will no longer be welcome at the academy.

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A copy of a graduation certificate from the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Academy issued March 7, signed in Chinese by the director of the academy, Maj. Wilson Lee. (Fairfax County Police Department)

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By Tom Jackman
Tom Jackman has been covering criminal justice for The Washington Post since 1998 and anchors the True Crime blog. He previously covered crime and courts for the Kansas City Star. Twitter https://twitter.com/TomJackmanWP