Community Values and Law Enforcement

There are three choices the voters face for Sheriff this November, Steve Simpson (the incumbent), Greg Ahlemann (the Republican nominee) and Mike George (the Democratic nominee). Last week, the three met at a candidates' forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. At the forum, a wide range of questions were asked, but some of the most in-depth discussion was around immigration. The Loudoun Times-Mirror covered the event.

Ahlemann called illegal immigration “the issue in this race.” He spoke of his experience working as a deputy in Sterling Park when he arrested many people with no documentation who could not speak English. “Trying to say crime statistics have gone down doesn't seem to make the single mother feel safer as she goes out to buy groceries at night,” Ahlemann said.

George, who worked in gang intelligence with the Fairfax County Police Department, noted that all of the gang members arrested are not illegal immigrants. “From what I've seen working with gangs, about 10 percent were illegals,” he said. “I don't think you can [conclude] that one is related to the other.”

Simpson said only about one in 20 gang members the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office deals with is an illegal immigrant.

“It's wrong to assume that everyone who's in Sterling is first of all illegal and second of all gang bangers because that's just not true,” he said to lots of applause from the crowd, which numbered about 80 people. - The Loudoun Times-Mirror

It is informative to examine what candidate Ahlemann is doing in this instance. His comments are playing on irrational fears and baseless assumptions about an entire class of neighbors. It has been shown that the majority of Spanish speakers in Loudoun are here legally, and furthermore, shown that fewer immigrants commit crimes than the population at large, but these facts do not stop candidate Ahlemann from inspiring fear in his rhetoric. The politics of fear know no facts, only emotional appeals designed to stir reaction instead of consideration.

That is why it is so heartening to read that our neighbors applauded when assertions based on fear were challenged at the forum. Our community values its neighbors, and our community values are not represented by people who would introduce false divisions among the residents of Loudoun County.

Mike George stands as the strongest candidate for Loudoun's values in the Sherriff's race. He is our neighbor, a citizen of Loudoun County, with a passion for maintaining and improving our quality of life. His experience fighting drugs and gangs in Fairfax County is exactly the experience we need to lead Loudoun County law enforcement in the next four years. If we want Loudoun County to remain a great place for families, we need a Sheriff who has proven his ability to fight the crime problems that come with growth and development. But in fighting that crime, we need a candidate who will build a coalition from our community, not turn it upon itself. It is for these reasons, among many others, that we need to elect Mike George Sheriff of Loudoun County.