Boards Cooperate on Stratford History — The Arlington County Board voted yesterday to collaborate with the School Board on a historic designation for the Stratford school, cutting the sometimes meddlesome Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board out of the process to save time and money. Said County Board Chair Mary Hynes: “There is perhaps no building in Arlington more worthy of historic designation than Stratford — both for the seminal events that occurred there in 1959 and the unique architecture of the building.” [InsideNova, Arlington County]
Police: Inmate’s Death Due to Natural Causes — A 53-year-old man who died while being held at the Arlington County jail in October died of natural causes, according to Arlington County Police. Detectives determined that Edward Straughn had an “extensive history of medical issues.” He was originally arrested for being drunk in public. Straughn’s death was the second in-custody death for Arlington in 2015. [Arlington County]
Land Purchase Agreement With Hospital Approved —The Arlington County Board last night voted to approve an option agreement that would allow Virginia Hospital Center to buy 5.5 acres of county-owned property next to its campus for a minimum of $12.5 million. The eventual purchase may include cash and/or a land swap. [Arlington County]
Fundraiser for Local Dad Who Died Suddenly — Nathan Graham, the father of four young sons and a volunteer bishop at the LDS church in Crystal City, died unexpectedly while on a business trip to China. An online fundraiser to help support Graham’s family has raised more than $95,000. [YouCaring]
History Task Force Makes Final Recommendations — Arlington County’s History Task Force has presented its final recommendations to the County Board. The task force says Arlington should devote resources to better preserving Arlington’s history, including via the development of a unified digital archive. [Arlington County]
The Arlington County Police Department will begin increasing patrols over the holidays, starting this Friday, in an effort to combat drunk driving.
ACPD says it will be upping patrols and setting up DUI checkpoints from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3. Nationwide, there’s an increase in drunk driving deaths around Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
From an ACPD press release:
Due to the increase in drunk-driving-related fatalities around the holidays each year, law enforcement agencies across America will be actively searching for and arresting drunk drivers from December 18, 2015 to January 3, 2016. In December 2013 alone, there were 733 people killed in crashes involving at least one driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. Twenty-three of those deaths occurred on Christmas Day.
If you plan on drinking at the holiday party or at a restaurant, hand the keys over to someone else – a sober friend, a taxi or public transportation. Or, try NHTSA’s SaferRide mobile app, which allows users to call a taxi or a friend by identifying their location so they can be picked up. The app is available at http://ow.ly/RWs3S for Android and http://ow.ly/RWs8h for iPhone users.
As part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement campaign period, police will be increasing the number of patrols, setting up roadblocks and using local media to reach out to all drivers. If you’re drinking and driving, Arlington County Police Department will stop you.
If you see a drunk driver on the road, call the police right away. If someone you know is about to drive after drinking, take their keys and help them get home safely.
Please follow these tips to keep the holidays safe and happy:
Even one drink can impair your judgment and increase the risk of getting arrested for driving drunk–or worse, the risk of having a crash.
If you will be drinking, do not plan on driving. Plan ahead; designate a sober driver before the party begins.
If you have been drinking, do not drive. Call a taxi, phone a sober friend or family member, use public transportation or call SoberRide at 1-800-200-TAXI.
Remember, driving after drinking should never be an option. Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.
A man allegedly exposed himself to a teen girl at Arlington Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street) last night.
The incident happened just before 7 p.m. The man was standing in one of the library’s aisles when he “took his pants off in front of” the girl, according Arlington County Police.
The teen immediately ran to an employee and reported the incident, said ACPD spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Police were called but by then the man had fled.
“The suspect is described as a black male in his forties, approximately 5’10” with a thin build,” said a crime report. “He was wearing a blue collared shirt and black sweatpants.”
A woman woke up early Monday morning to find a man in her kitchen, stealing from her.
The incident happened around 3:45 a.m. at a home near East Falls Church. The suspect fled was was soon found by police and taken into custody.
From this week’s Arlington County crime report:
BURGLARY, 151207009, 2400 block of N. Potomac Street. At approximately 3:45 a.m. on December 7, a female victim awoke to an unknown male subject in her kitchen. The subject fled out the back door taking an undisclosed amount of cash. Shortly after, officers located a subject matching the suspect description and found items belonging to the victims on him. Michael Edward Thomas, 25, of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with burglary, possession of a controlled substance, petit larceny, and possession of marijuana. He is being held without bond.
(Updated at 4:55 p.m.) Three suspects are in custody after a vehicle pursuit ended near Benjamin Banneker Park in a quiet East Falls Church neighborhood.
The chase of a stolen vehicle that may have originated in Loudoun County was reported to Arlington authorities as it made its way down the Dulles Toll Road. The vehicle sped down toll road to I-66, with Fairfax County Police cruisers, the FCPD helicopter and Virginia State Police in pursuit, before exiting at East Falls Church.
The suspect vehicle finally came to a stop at N. Underwood Street and 18th Street N., near the entrance to Benjamin Banneker Park, around 3:30 p.m. Numerous vehicles were reported to be struck by the suspects in Arlington while they pushed through stopped traffic in the area of Lee Highway and N. Fairfax Drive.
Initially, only one suspect was taken into custody and two were reported to be fleeing on foot, according to scanner traffic. The helicopter and numerous Arlington County Police, Virginia State Police and Metro Transit Police officers successfully searched for the suspects who were quickly apprehended.
A man and two women were arrested and are expected to face numerous charges, we’re told.
Firefighters were dispatched to the scene for a report that the suspect vehicle caught fire after the crash. The fire was quickly extinguished.
A bicyclist was struck at the intersection of N. Rhodes Street and Key Boulevard
The driver was coming up N. Rhodes from Lee Highway
Police presence on N. Rhodes after the accident
The bicyclist was riding down Key Boulevard
The victim rolled over the hood and onto the cars windshield
A bicyclist was struck by a car at the intersection of N. Rhodes Street and Key Boulevard in the Colonial Village area this morning.
The accident occurred around 9:45 a.m. Witnesses said the victim — who they identified as a male — was riding down Key, though it was unclear if he was turning or continuing straight onto the bike route toward Rosslyn Heights.
The car involved was coming up N. Rhodes from Lee Highway. Though the driver seemed to slow down as he approached the intersection — which has stop signs in all directions — witnesses said he did not appear to come to a complete stop. He allegedly struck the bicyclist as he was proceeding straight through the intersection.
According to scanner traffic, the victim rolled over the hood of the car and onto its windshield, cracking it on the passenger side.
A witness said he could see cuts on the victim’s legs and could hear him yelling in pain from a few hundred feet away.
Initial reports said the victim’s injuries were not considered life-threatening. He was transported to the trauma center at George Washington University Hospital.
The Arlington County Police Department has a new social media platform over which it can share information directly with residents.
The department is partnering which Nextdoor, a neighborhood-oriented social networking site built to connect residents in specific communities across the country.
“I believe this particular program offers unique opportunities we haven’t had in the past,” Arlington Police Chief Jay Farr said in a press conference Wednesday. “This is going to allow us to focus specifically on neighborhoods and concerns in those neighborhoods that are of interest to that particular community.”
However, Nextdoor is not new to Arlington County. According to the company, 73 of Arlington’s civic associations — about 88 percent of neighborhoods — are already represented on the network, and many have been for a few years.
For example, Marcia Burgos-Stone started a Nextdoor page for Columbia Forest shortly after she moved there.
“I wanted to know who my neighbors were, but I moved in and I didn’t really see, talk to or meet any of them,” she said. “It’s a way to help people out, plan social activities and share information. It brings people together.”
ACPD’s district teams will use Nextdoor to share crime and safety information with residents in specific neighborhoods. The department already does that by communicating with civic associations, condo associations and local email listservs, and Nextdoor is seen as another tool for getting information out to the public.
According to Nextdoor Senior City Strategist Joseph Porcelli, the department will operate on Nextdoor for Public Agencies, an interface specifically for government agencies that is also free.
“The interface allows the department to post messages to one, many or all of the neighborhoods in the county, and they can use that to inform residents about things that are happening in those neighborhoods,” Porcelli said. “There can also be a dialogue and conversation around that because it’s individual members of the departments who will be posting.”
Chief Farr emphasized Nextdoor will not be monitored 24/7 and it should not replace calling the police non-emergency line (703-558-2222) to report suspicious activity or 911 in case of an emergency.
Since residents must verify their address in order to join a neighborhood’s page, police officers and officials will not be able to see what residents post on the site — unless they’re specifically replying to a police post or including ACPD in a post.
The “neighborhood watch” functionality of Nextdoor — discussing crime and suspicious activity — is one of its most-touted features, but it has also subjected the company to criticism. Concerns about racial profiling on the site have bubbled up over the past year, in places like Oakland, California and Seattle, Washington. The phenomenon is not exclusive to Nextdoor — around the same time, some businesses in Georgetown were also accused of racial profiling on a different sharing app.
Chief Farr said the department will deal with such issues, if any arise, the same way it does on its other information-sharing platforms.
“Just like in the way you can post anything you want on our Facebook page or on our Twitter page, we don’t erase the negative comments, but we don’t engage in the negative commenting,” he said.
Porcelli said Nextdoor is aware of the issue and is working to combat it.
“We consider any kind of profiling absolutely unacceptable, and we take actions to address that with members who choose to participate in that way,” he said. “We’re working with our product to experiment with new ways to help people make sure what they’re communicating on the platform is neighborly, respectful and constructive.”
Porcelli noted that Nextdoor employees don’t monitor neighborhood activity, but said all members have the ability to flag messages they think are inappropriate. “Nextdoor leads” –neighborhood page founders and power users — also have the opportunity to remove such conversations.
At least in the case of Columbia Forest, Burgos-Stone said she hasn’t seen that kind of activity on the site.
“People are people, and people behave in certain ways, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the website,” she said. “I think it’s more important that people will feel safer and have accurate information when it comes to any kind of police activity in our area. Accurate information is the best information.”
County Apologizes for Political Facebook Post — Arlington County has taken down and apologized for a Facebook post that some called inappropriate. “No support or endorsement was intended” the county said of the post, which linked to an article about an Arlington County Democratic Committee resolution calling for a change to the Washington Redskins team name. [Facebook]
Arlington to Partner with Nextdoor — The Arlington County Police Department will be holding a press conference Wednesday afternoon to announce a partnership with Nextdoor, a private social network for neighborhoods. The partnership will help “build stronger, safer communities with the help of Arlington residents.” Nextdoor has been criticized recently for becoming “a bastion of racial profiling.”
Bluemont Residents Concerned About Big Ballston Development — The Bluemont Civic Association is expressing concern over a massive proposed development on the western side of the intersection of N. Glebe Road and Wilson Blvd. The development proposal calls for 483 apartments in a building with a grocery store and other ground floor retail. [Curbed]
Arlington-Built Satellite Blasts Off to Space Station — A tiny satellite built by elementary students at St. Thomas More Cathedral School in Arlington is part of the cargo of a rocket that launched into orbit Sunday, bound for the International Space Station. [CBS News, Space.com]
‘Arlington Tech’ School Proposal — The Arlington School Board has signaled that it’s ready to move forward with the establishment of “Arlington Tech,” a high-technology coursework initiative to be located at the Arlington Career Center. [InsideNova]
Anti-Hunger Effort Draws Big Crowd — More than 1,000 people gathered at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center gym over the weekend to put together 100,000 meals for starving children around the world. [NBC Washington]
Arlington’s Official Song Turns 45 — “Arlington,” the official song of Arlington County, recently turned 45 years old. The song was written by a local clergyman and adopted as the county’s official song in 1970 with the encouragement of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. [Arlington County]
On Monday, a woman was allegedly assaulted with a mug and a butter knife in Rosslyn.
From this week’s Arlington County Police Department crime report:
MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 151130008, 1300 block of N. Lee Highway. At approximately 7:35 a.m. on November 30, a 51 year-old homeless male subject assaulted a homeless female victim with a mug and stabbed her several times with a butter knife. The victim was transported to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Gary Lynn Champagne, 51, of no fixed address, was arrested and charged with malicious wounding.
The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.
The Arlington County Police Department extends our sincere condolences to the San Bernardino, California community. We want to reassure the citizens of Arlington County that our officers remain vigilant in their patrols of our community. Officers receive extensive training in active shooter situations and have the tools necessary to respond should an incident occur. There are currently no active threats to the Washington, D.C. area and our Homeland Security Section continues to monitor these incidents with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners.
Citizens are encouraged to go about their normal business while paying particular attention to their surroundings. You are the first line of defense against terrorism and by providing information to law enforcement, you may help deter possible terrorist activity. Report suspicious activity in Arlington County using the Homeland Security Tip Form or to nationwide intelligence centers using the See Send smartphone application. Together, we can help keep Arlington County safe.
