On radio show, supervisor says police chief is responsible for investigating citizens’ email | New

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Growing tensions between Prince William County Republican supervisors, the new county police chief and the local NAACP chairman show no signs of abating after police investigate an email from citizens with the line Government Target, which criticized some Democratic county supervisors.

The email at issue was sent by Robert Hand, a resident of Dumfries, to the eight supervisors in Prince William County on August 3, shortly before an afternoon board meeting. The next day, police sent an officer to Hands for questioning, but ultimately determined that the email did not violate any law.

Cozy Bailey also sits on the Police Services Citizen Advisory Council.

After the emails were revealed, supervisors Jeanine Lawson, R-Brentsville, Pete Candland, R-Gainesville and Yesli Vega, R-Coles, asked Newsham to provide a full public account of why he chose to investigate the email.

Lawson has since gone further, publicly criticizing Newsham for his role in the ordeal in a recent radio interview on WMALs Vince Coglianese Show.

If anyone is to blame, besides [Supervisor Andrea Bailey] and her husband, her boss Newsham, with whom I have already had a discussion. I did not agree with his judgment. He was going to speak to the board on September 7 and was going to air that dirty laundry in the public eye, Lawson said on the Coglianeses show on August 25.

Lawson said she believed the police chief had been pressured and, sadly, he gave in.

Lawson is one of six candidates for the Republican nomination for congressional headquarters in Virginia’s 10th District.

Newsham is due to speak to the board on Sept. 7 regarding the annual crime report and will be available to answer questions from supervisors, board chair Ann Wheeler, D-At Large said last week.

On August 30, Prince William County Police spokesperson 1stSgt. Jonathan Perok responded to Lawsons’ comments. Newsham and Lawson have an excellent working relationship and have discussed his concerns about this matter at length, Perok said.

Hand is a local gun rights activist and frequent critic of the boards of Democratic supervisors. However, the subject line of his emails, Government Target, did not refer to county officials, but to another county resident who Hand said was being targeted by county officials.

In an interview with The Prince William Times last week, Hand said he was convinced he hadn’t said anything threatening and hadn’t crossed a line.

County documents show that shortly after Hand sent the email on August 3, Andrea Bailey forwarded it to Cozy Bailey, who then sent the email to Newsham with the accompanying note : For your knowledge of the situation. More malice in the subject line than in the rant in the body of the email, but we take any threats that are communicated seriously.

A day later, a police sergeant arrived at Hands Dumfries’ home and questioned him about his communication with the board. The officer said during their conversation that Hand did not break any laws.

In an interdepartmental email obtained by The Prince William Times, the investigating police officer wrote that Hand admitted during their conversation that he used poor wording in the subject line of the email , but insisted he was referring to citizens being a target of the government and not the government.

Newsham explained his decision to investigate Hands’ email in an August 5 email to County Manager Chris Martino, Lawson and Candland. It is our law enforcement responsibility to follow up when county residents believe they are being threatened or harassed online, Newsham said.

Cozy Bailey said in an Aug. 25 interview on Fox 5 that her decision to report the email to Newsham was in large part because of the subject line of the emails.

It was mainly the subject line of the email that bothered me, Bailey said. He said government goal. I couldn’t discern what this had to do with the content of the email, so out of caution I decided to forward it to the police department.

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