Lieutenant Weeks Graduates from DC Police Leadership Academy

FAIRFAX, VA – After working together with law enforcement leaders from across the world over the last three months, First Lieutenant Erin Weeks of the Fairfax County Police Department graduated from Cohort 2023-01 of the DC Police Leadership Academy hosted by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Cohort 2023-01 was the inaugural cohort of the DCPLA program. The three-week program, broken into two sessions, comprised approximately 70 participants from across the US and included representatives from Germany, Canada, Netherlands, and England. Participants engaged in shaping the future of policing by developing their personal leadership abilities through discourse and interactive activities.

Lieutenant Weeks joined the Fairfax County Police Department in 2006. She began her career as a patrol officer at the Mount Vernon District Station. She continued to support the community as a member of the Neighborhood Patrol Unit and then as a domestic violence detective. Lieutenant Weeks continued her love for investigations as she moved to our Major Crimes Bureau as a child abuse and sex crimes detective. From there, Lieutenant Weeks was promoted to sergeant where she supervised patrol squads at the West Springfield District Station. Lieutenant Weeks was promoted to second lieutenant in 2020 and worked in our Internal Affairs Bureau. Recognizing her skills with investigations, Lieutenant Weeks was selected as the supervisor of our Homicide Squad for two years. Lieutenant Weeks was then promoted to First Lieutenant and is currently the assistant commander of our Violent Crimes Division. Lieutenant Weeks is extremely grateful for the opportunity to attend the inaugural D.C. Police Leadership Academy. Through this program, she enhanced her leadership skills while developing friendships with participants from around the country and the world.

The goal of the DC Police Leadership Academy is to develop a strong cadre of second line supervisors who are adaptable, creative, and motivate others. DCPLA develops leaders who demonstrate high standards of integrity, trust, openness, humility, and respect. The program facilitates a culture of positive police leaders that understand the profession of law enforcement beyond their assigned role- leaders that create and maintain a sense of purpose and innovation in their agencies.

“We are focused on building a global legion of police leaders who strive to continuously transfer excellence at every level of a police force,” said MPD Chief of Police Robert J. Contee, III. “Opportunities for people to step up and rise to the occasion must be bountiful within law enforcement for us to reach our highest levels of operations. I am confident the leadership academy will continue to set our future police leaders up for continued advancement and success in any public safety environment.”

ABOUT DCPLA: The Metropolitan Police Department created DCPLA in 2022 with the intent to provide rising police leaders from around the world with the fundamental tools, ideas, and strategies necessary to lead within their agencies during a critical time for the advancement of law enforcement organizations. This program targets mid-level leaders (i.e., those that manage managers, but are not yet in appointed ranks). Through this program, participants develop a critical growth mindset, and learn essential management approaches to hone their personal and organizational leadership skills.