(The Center Square) – Two Northern Virginia prosecutors joined advocacy groups Wednesday for a public safety media briefing ahead of the 2025 election, but did not respond to questions about a recent attempted abduction case in Fairfax County that has drawn nationwide attention.
The case involving Fairfax County resident Andres Caceres Jaldin, who is charged with attempting to abduct a toddler from Fair Oaks Mall on July 18, was briefly mentioned early in the call. The case led to renewed scrutiny of local prosecution decisions, as the suspect had prior charges and was released before the incident.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has called for a formal investigation, and Attorney General Jason Miyares has opened a review.
A reporter from The Center Square submitted a written question during the briefing asking Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano to respond to the investigation and explain how his office handles release decisions involving repeat offenders. The briefing ended without addressing two written questions submitted during the call about the Fairfax case.
At the end of the event, Vera Action Director Insha Rahman told reporters they could reach out to Descano’s office directly and said the office would be “happy to take your call.” As of Wednesday afternoon, the office has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
The Aug. 6 event, hosted by Vera Action and New Virginia Majority, featured Descano, Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, Rahman and New Virginia Majority Co-Executive Director Tram Nguyen.
The briefing focused on how public safety is discussed in political campaigns, based on polling, messaging trends and community concerns.
The first takeaway from Vera Action’s presentation stated that Democrats should stop treating crime like a liability and instead present safety, accountability and justice as campaign strengths.
The group highlighted a voting bloc it calls “safety and justice” voters, who they say make up about 15% of Virginia’s electorate. According to the presentation, these voters tend to be younger, more diverse, and less ideological, and are more focused on outcomes than political rhetoric.
Speakers tied public safety to broader issues like housing, healthcare, and education, and urged candidates to move away from “tough on crime” messaging. Instead, they emphasized solutions like faster emergency response, higher case resolution rates and stronger support systems.
According to the presentation, voters across political parties expressed frustration with what they described as politicized or fear-driven campaign messaging around crime.
During the briefing, Descano did comment broadly on how he believes crime is often portrayed in political campaigns. He said many news stories lack context and that focusing on individual cases can distort public understanding of the criminal justice system.
“When crime itself is covered using an individual case as an exemplar of the system, I think it always leads to bad results,” Descano said. “It has a warping effect.”
