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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The Alexandria Police Department will host a Public Safety Summit on Thursday, June 18, bringing the long-term strategy Chief Tarrick McGuire has spent recent months presenting to City Council to a wider group of community members and stakeholders.
The invitation-only event, held at Virginia Theological Seminary, gathers invited residents, civic and neighborhood leaders, city officials and public safety stakeholders to weigh in on what the department calls a "collaborative vision roadmap" for its forthcoming Public Safety Plan. APD says the plan is built around partnership, shared responsibility, evidence-based practices and technology.
The summit centers on the department's framework, which it calls G.R.E.A.T., covering five areas: geographical policing and accountability, relationships, evidence-based strategies and enforcement, assessment, and technology. Through panel discussions and breakout sessions, participants are to give feedback on public safety priorities, according to the advisory.
The session follows a series of presentations McGuire has made to City Council. On June 9, he presented the five-pillar Public Safety Plan to the council for guidance, seeking direction rather than a vote. That built on his March update, in which he told the council that Alexandria had recorded the sharpest per-capita crime decline of any jurisdiction tracked in a Brookings Institution analysis of the Washington region. APD has cautioned that its figures are preliminary and may differ from what it reports to the FBI's national crime database, which makes direct comparisons with other jurisdictions unreliable.
"Public safety is a shared responsibility, and meaningful progress begins with listening to the people we serve," McGuire said in a statement, adding that the summit is meant to help shape a "forward-thinking vision" reflecting community priorities.
The agenda includes McGuire's introduction of the G.R.E.A.T. framework, a community panel, a panel of regional police chiefs, and remarks from Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Stanley Meador, followed by facilitated breakout sessions.
McGuire became Alexandria's 16th police chief in late 2024 after arriving from the Arlington, Texas, Police Department, where he was assistant chief. He is known nationally for his work on evidence-based policing and is a member of the Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame.
The summit is closed to the public; only those with confirmed attendance will be admitted.
