Mike Chapman was first elected Sheriff of Loudoun County (VA) in 2011, and was re-elected to his fourth term in 2023. He directs the largest full-service Sheriff’s Office in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with oversight of county-wide law enforcement, the county’s Adult Detention Center, and security for the county’s courts. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) employs approximately 700 sworn deputies and 200 civilian personnel, has an annual budget of $133M, and serves a population of approximately 447,000 residents and an area of 519 square miles.
Sheriff Chapman has been a leader in advancing proactive and successful law enforcement and community engagement programs. Serious crime is down 37% during his tenure, the greatest reduction of any jurisdiction in the Washington Metropolitan Region, and Loudoun County has maintained the lowest overall crime rate.
Sheriff Chapman has been a leader in addressing the heroin and, more recently, fentanyl problem with respect to border security, enforcement, and education. Under his leadership, the LCSO was the first law enforcement agency in the region to issue Narcan to all deputies, and he has been a champion of greater community engagement with law enforcement.
The LCSO was the first in the region to require Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for all deputies/dispatchers and sponsors a training program that leads the region. Sheriff Chapman also expanded the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program to include both elementary and middle schools (and was named DARE Executive of the Year); established a successful Cold Case squad; expanded the use of community forums and feedback, along with proactive news media and social media engagement; upgraded the agency’s recruitment and retention programs to make them among the most effective in the region; and measurably improved service, technology, efficiency, and professionalism through his Step Up initiative.
In 2023, Sheriff Chapman was named the Ferris E. Lucas “Sheriff of the Year” recipient by the National Sheriffs’ Association. He was voted “Best Public Servant” by readers of the Loudoun Times Mirror newspaper in 2022 and 2023, and Favorite Public Servant by readers of the Loudoun Now newspaper in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Sheriffs’ Association; the Board of Directors and Region VI Director of the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association; and the DARE Law Enforcement Advisory Board. He was appointed by Governor Glenn Youngkin to Virginia’s Department of Criminal Justice Services Board, served for five years as Vice President of Homeland Security for the Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA), and as Chair of the Washington-Baltimore High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Board.
Sheriff Chapman graduated from the FBI National Executive Institute (NEI) and Law Enforcement Executive Development Association (LEEDA); the US Army War College – National Security (Certificate of Leadership Development); the National Sheriffs’ Institute; the Virginia Sheriffs’ Institute (VSI), Virginia Commonwealth University’s Sheriffs’ Institute, and earned the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services’ Executive Certification and received the VSI Certification. He has had numerous articles published in professional journals and newspapers, including the International Chiefs of Police The Police Chief; FBI LEEDA Insighter; the Richmond Times Dispatch; and The Hill.
Sheriff Chapman began his career in law enforcement working in Patrol, SWAT, and Criminal Investigations for the Howard County (MD) Police Department. He then spent 23 years with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as Assistant Special Agent in Charge in San Francisco (CA); Country Attaché in Seoul, Korea; Supervisor in McAllen (TX); in field assignments in Miami and Tampa (FL) and Karachi, Pakistan; and as Chief of Public Affairs. Subsequently, Sheriff Chapman worked as a Subject Matter Expert on the Global Security/Law Enforcement team at Booz Allen and Hamilton.
Mike Chapman is married to the former Ann Rafferty, and they have six children and ten grandchildren. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the University of Maryland, and a Master’s in Public Administration from Troy State University.