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Fairfax County’s newest police recruits are getting an early taste of the physical strain, legal instruction and team culture of law enforcement before they enter the academy.
The county’s Pre-Academy Recruit Program, known as PARS, runs for up to 12 weeks. Capt. Dean Tran said it prepares recruits to succeed by developing resilience and the “mental and physical grit that it takes to do the job.”
The Fairfax County Police Department launched the program in 2023. Every new recruit now completes PARS before attending the academy.
On Wednesday afternoon, recruit Rachel Scott and dozens of teammates pushed through a demanding training circuit that included farmer’s carries, battle ropes and burpees. Scott is among 39 recruits in the program’s ninth class, which was scheduled to enter the academy Friday.
Scott said the pre-academy period gives classmates an opportunity to build relationships before the academy’s fast pace takes over.
“Once you’re thrown into the academy, it’s a lot of go, go, go, and you don’t really get time to get to know the people around you,” she said.
Recruits receive daily strength and conditioning instruction, including workouts Scott compared to high-intensity interval training that targets the entire body. Department strength and conditioning coach Travis Lipscomb said recruits complete similar physical training four times a week.
“Our goal is to prepare them physically for the academy and then the career they’re going to be going into afterward,” Lipscomb said.
He said the movements are intended to build job-related abilities while helping prevent injuries. One of his favorite tests is loading a front squat to see what recruits can accomplish.
Officer Caitlin Rodriguez, a recent graduate of PARS and the police academy, said fitness is essential because officers often encounter people during crises and must be ready to manage whatever happens.
Legal lessons and career options
The preparation extends beyond exercise. Recruits receive introductory instruction on topics including exceptions to search-warrant requirements, arrest procedures and court systems.
Members of specialized units also speak with the class about potential career paths. Presentations cover crime-scene investigation, homicide investigations, the fugitive squad and SWAT, giving recruits a look at opportunities that could become available after they gain patrol experience.
Scott said she wants to spend time on patrol to develop that experience. Her longer-term interests include supplemental search and rescue, detective work, crime-scene assignments and the Major Crimes Bureau.
She considered joining the military but chose the Fairfax County Police Department partly because it would keep her closer to her parents. She said the familiar reason for entering the profession—wanting to help people—was also genuinely important to her.
Building bonds before the academy
PARS places a strong emphasis on camaraderie. Scott said recruits are assigned different partners each week to discuss a writing prompt, an approach designed to prevent cliques and encourage everyone to interact.
Rodriguez said the relationships can continue after graduation. Encounters with former classmates at the jail feel like “a little family reunion,” she said.
Tran described PARS as the first program of its kind in the Washington metropolitan area and possibly across the eastern United States. He said it has improved the department’s hiring system and its ability to pursue strong candidates.
Women make up 41% of the current class, according to Tran, who called that proportion extraordinary in a profession where female officers remain underrepresented.
Fairfax County police are recruiting for their next PARS cohort, scheduled to begin in August.