Prince William County has announced the appointment of Dr. Tauheeda Yasin as the Director of the Office of Community Safety (OCS). Her appointment follows a national search and is effective immediately.
Dr. Yasin has been serving as Acting Director of OCS since January 2025. Before that, she held the positions of Deputy Director and Community Safety Administrator within the same office. In these roles, she managed county-wide safety initiatives, coordinated multi-agency efforts, and developed public engagement strategies. Her work included early-stage development of Community Violence Intervention and Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programming for Prince William County, integrating public health, law enforcement, and social services.
As director, Dr. Yasin will oversee coordinated community responses to safety concerns, develop safety dashboards for evidence-informed decision-making, create community risk mitigation strategies to enhance resilience and address root causes of safety issues, and lead strategic planning for proactive and sustainable community safety initiatives.
Before joining Prince William County, Dr. Yasin was an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Community Engagement Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. There she led a statewide judicial mapping initiative and developed tools for violence prevention and safety asset mapping. Her previous experience also includes roles with the Network for Empowered Aid Response, George Mason University as an instructor and Ph.D. researcher, Northern Virginia Community College as an associate dean and professor, and as a learning consultant for the World Bank Group.
“Dr. Yasin brings an exceptional combination of academic insight, community engagement and strategic leadership to the Office of Community Safety,” said County Executive Chris Shorter. “Her deep commitment to collaborative, data-informed approaches to public safety has already made a meaningful impact in Prince William County.”
Dr. Yasin expressed her enthusiasm about her new role: “I’m honored to lead the Office of Community Safety… Together we have an opportunity to build a more connected community where every resident feels safe.”
Dr. Yasin holds degrees from Sarah Lawrence College (Bachelor of Arts), Long Island University (Master of Science in Education), and George Mason University (Ph.D. in Cultural Studies). She is also involved with Buckhall Volunteer Fire Department as an EMS volunteer and serves as affiliate faculty at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
For further information about the Office of Community Safety, visit pwcva.gov/ocs.
