The Fairfax County Police Department wants to roll out a new, urban-style service model that police leaders believe will help scale back crime as Tysons continues to grow.
“We have a whole new idea for how to police Tysons,” Major Bob Blakely told the county’s Planning Commission at last night’s Capital Improvement Program presentations.
Blakely said that the police department is hoping to add a new police station close to Tysons’ “main arteries.” He said police expect to receive land for the facility and construction assistance from a local developer, in an arrangement commonly known as a “proffer,” exchanging approval of a development for a public facility.
Unlike a traditional police station, the one for Tysons would serve as a “walk-up type facility” with reduced hours of operation, Blakely said.
Police would also have unique options to get around Tysons. “We’re trying to remove the idea of these big cruisers trying to get through traffic,” he said.
Instead of police cars, police would rely on segways, scooters and smaller vehicles to move around without getting stuck in the congestion.
Planning Commissioner Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner called the new Tysons policing proposal a “relevant, urgent need.” In response to Niedzielski-Eichner’s question about timing, Blakely said he’d rather see it sooner rather than later.
“When we look at the statistics, it shows we need to get ahead of the curve instead of behind it,” Blakely said.
Ultimately, Blakely stressed that pairing new technologies and innovations with the urban environment will help police respond faster and provide better service to the community.
A man trying to steal from Macy’s led officers on a foot chase at Tysons Corner Center mall, according to Fairfax County Police.
The chase happened Monday around 5:30 p.m. FCPD says a man who was concealing items “left the store without paying for the merchandise and ran away.”
A 24-year-old D.C. man “was arrested after a foot pursuit for grand larceny, possession of burglarious tools and possession of marijuana,” police said in a crime report.
A Maryland man was arrested and charged with DWI after flipping his car during a crash in a Vienna parking lot.
The incident happened just before midnight on Thursday, Feb. 28. Police say the 22-year-old man was driving at “a high rate of speed” through the parking lot of the Cedar Lane Apartments when his car “struck a legally parked, unoccupied vehicle” and overturned.
“The driver, the only occupant in the vehicle, was injured in the accident,” Vienna police said in a crime report. “Upon MPO Borja’s interaction with the driver she detected signs of impairment.”
The driver, a Silver Spring resident, was transported to a hospital and subsequently charged with Driving While Intoxicated.
Photo via Google Maps
What began as a robbery of the Sunglass Hut store in Tysons Corner Center turned into a multi-jurisdictional car chase that ended in a major crash.
The incident happened Sunday afternoon. According to NBC 4, Virginia State Police chased a BMW associated with the mall robbery down the Beltway and across the Wilson Bridge into Maryland, before the driver lost control on a highway ramp in D.C., flipping the car violently.
A Virginia State Police spokeswoman confirmed to Tysons Reporter that troopers “initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle wanted by Fairfax County PD for an ongoing criminal investigation.”
“The vehicle refused to stop until it crashed in the District,” said spokeswoman Corinne Geller. “The trooper apprehended two of the vehicle’s three occupants and charged the driver with one felony count of eluding police.”
State police turned over the investigation to Fairfax County Police, Geller said. D.C. police took the lead on trying to track down the third suspect, who fled on foot.
Local citizens and county supervisors have been putting pressure on the police to embrace body-worn cameras, particularly after funding for the devices wasn’t included in this year’s county budget proposal.
But Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler told Tysons Reporter that the budget decision isn’t about priorities: it’s about timing.
Roessler said that it wouldn’t make sense to include body-worn cameras in the budget until an ongoing study of the recently completed pilot program, which among the findings would include a projected cost for the program, is completed and presented to the public this summer.
In 2014, Roessler put together a steering group to look at body-worn cameras, which put together a list of policies — like when officers should activate, or deactivate, the cameras and what footage to release or withhold.
“Sometimes it might be a child having a mental episode, and we don’t want to broadcast those things,” Roessler said.
Roessler said one of the biggest parts of the equipment cost will likely be digital storage, which Roessler said would give the program $4 million annual budget. An estimate from Fairfax County staff in response to a question from Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust estimated a $6 million total recurring cost.
In 2017, as other large agencies in urban jurisdictions were starting to purchase body cameras and get them onto the streets, the program went through pilot testing in Fairfax County.
“A lot of agencies were just purchasing equipment and rolling [it] out onto the street without research,” said Roessler. “My proposal was to pilot the project at several district stations with different demographics and different calls for service so we could get good samples for how these work in different circumstances.
The other big part of the pilot Roessler thought was critical was collaborating with American University for a study of the results of the project. While other departments, like D.C. and Boston, had pilot programs with research, Roessler said he was not satisfied with the level of academic rigor.
“I was not satisfied with results from Boston or D.C.,” Roessler said. “I believe that I have a responsibility to conduct a study with the highest levels of academic rigor… I’ve decided to do it this way because it’s the right thing to do.”
Roessler said there were instances where departments would not fully enforce their proposed body worn camera policies during the pilot phase, which he said would result in biased samples.
But the study won’t be completed and ready for presentation in time for the current budget season. With the FY 2020 budget starting in July, Roessler said funding body-worn cameras would be more likely to come up in next year or the following year’s budget discussions.
“In a June public safety meeting, I will present the American University findings of the project and the potential scope of cost so the [Board of Supervisors] can make informed decisions,” Roessler said.
At the March 6 meeting, the McLean Citizens Association voted to table the resolution to implement the body worn camera program until the results from American University are published.
“We want to get it right, said Roessler. “Other departments rushed it, got it wrong, and it cost taxpayers millions because they have to take cameras back and start all over. “
Roessler said the department is also working with the commonwealth attorney’s office on navigating the workload and costs from body cameras. Not only would the cameras add hours of footage for the commonwealth attorney’s office to sort through during court cases, but Roessler said how long files will be kept in costly digital storage.
But despite the costs, Roessler said he believes there are advantages for both police officers and the public with body-worn cameras.
“Clearly, body-worn cameras won’t solve everything,” said Roessler. “They won’t give a 360-degree view, but it does help for accountability. Until I understand the scope of the cost, we do have a lot of priorities and the cost may depend on the projection for the county budget.”
Photo via Fairfax County Police
Someone burglarized the Dickey’s Barbecue Pit restaurant in Merrifield earlier this week.
The burglary happened between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Fairfax County Police say money was stolen overnight from the business, at 2750 Gallows Road.
“There is currently no suspect information available,” said FCPD.
Photo via Google Maps
https://www.facebook.com/fairfaxcountyPD/videos/813842735632372/?v=813842735632372
A helicopter, an ATV and a team of firefighters and police officers came together to rescue a man who was injured in the Scott’s Run Nature Preserve on Tuesday evening (March 5).
According to a Facebook post by the police department, when the man didn’t return home after a hike, his sister became worried as temperatures dropped.
Police said the man had broken his leg and was stuck on the hiking trail for several hours. Officers were able to keep him stable and comfortable until firefighters used an ATV to reach him and carry him out.
“Our Fairfax One team began searching and was able to quickly locate the man,” police said in the post. “They then directed our officers and the Fire and Rescue team through the rough and dark terrain to reach him.”
“We’re happy to report that, thanks to this great collaboration and quick work, his is now safe!” police said in the post.
Fairfax County police have issued an arrest warrant for Gervonta Davis, World Boxing Association champion in the 130-pound category, after police say Davis assaulted a man near a Tysons Galleria ATM on Feb. 17.
Police said an unidentified victim reported Davis as his attacker. Davis allegedly became belligerent. After the victim testified to the magistrate, a warrant was issued for Davis’ arrest.
Davis faces a misdemeanor assault and battery charge but the Washington Post reported that Davis has not responded to the warrant.
This is not the first or even second time Davis has been arrested following a physical altercation.
After the initial story broke, Davis tweeted vague disapproval of the news coverage.
Lies lies lies
— Gervonta Davis (@Gervontaa) March 5, 2019
While McLean residents are mostly satisfied with what’s in this year’s county budget proposal, the McLean Citizens Association (MCA) takes issue with one item that isn’t: body worn cameras.
A pilot program for body-worn cameras was implemented through 2018 and a report on the findings of the program are expected sometime this spring, but funding for the program is not included in the police budget for FY 2020.
At tonight’s MCA meeting, the board will vote on a resolution to recommend body worn cameras be included in the budget.
Equipping police officers with body worn cameras is beneficial to both police and the community. [Body-worn cameras] can accurately record law enforcement actions and thereby capture evidence pursuant to investigations, reduce the number of complaints filed against officers, and provide additional safety for our officers as they patrol the streets. The cameras also increase transparency, accountability, and trust between the police and community, which has been an issue nationwide over the last several years and is particularly relevant to our community with the recent killing of Bijan Ghaisar by U.S. Park Police.
The killing of Bijan Ghaisar was controversial partly because videos from dashboard cameras released by Fairfax County Police that seemed to show no threat to U.S. Park Police when they shot Ghaisar.
Last year, on the anniversary of the shooting, the MCA approved a resolution pushing for more transparency in the investigation and praising the Fairfax County Police for releasing the video.
This isn’t the first time body-worn cameras have come up in budget discussions. At an earlier Board of Supervisors meeting on the budget, several board members expressed concern there was no funding identified for the program. Staff said at the meeting that they were waiting for the results of the pilot evaluation to add funding.
“The program has broad support, but actual implementation continues to drift to the right,” the MCA said in the resolution. “It is time to implement the program and, following completion of the [evaluation], we urge a cost-conscious [body-worn camera] implementation.”
Photo via Fairfax County Police
A bullet was fired into a home one block from the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station, but so far, that’s about all police are saying about the incident.
Police say the incident occurred 2600 block of Avenir Place on Saturday (March 2) around 2 a.m.
“A woman was lying in bed with her mother when a bullet shot through their bedroom window,” police said in a crime report. “No injuries were reported.”
Police said they were still investigating the incident and working to determine the source of the bullet.
Photo via Google Maps
