police

With Employee Salaries, County Aims to be Competitive

By ARLnow.com

You might think that with another looming budget gap and talk of a new worldwide Age of Austerity, Arlington County would be looking at cutting employee compensation as a potential way to trim costs.

After all, every taxpayer in Arlington knows that our famously progressive county probably pays employees more than anyone else in the region, right?

Wrong.

Arlington is, in fact, still playing catchup with Fairfax and Alexandria compensation-wise, County Manager Barbara Donnellan told a group of Arlington County Civic Federation delegates Tuesday night.

Donnellan cited a study released last year which determined that while employee benefits were on par with Fairfax and Alexandria, Arlington’s two biggest competitors in the job market, employee salaries lagged in more than half the job categories examined.

Another such study will be conducted next year.

Donnellan said that Arlington will likely continue to grant merit-based step increases to employees in the upcoming budget. That, she said, should help Arlington compete with Fairfax, which has frozen step increases. Like Arlington, however, Alexandria is still granting pay raises.

“Overall, we’re trying to maintain competitiveness,” Donnellan said. Comparisons to the private sector and to similar jurisdictions in other parts of the country are generally not helpful, Donnellan said, because the county is drawing from a different pool of potential job applicants.

As an example of one area where Arlington is struggling to fill jobs, Donnellan cited a recent recruiting drive by the police department.

Out of some 70 prospective applicants for a significant number of police vacancies (perhaps 20 to 30), only four were ultimately hired after a battery of physical and mental tests.

“Four doesn’t cut it,” Donnellan said, adding that more public safety recruiting classes will be necessary. In other job categories, she said, hiring is a mixed bag.

“We had a hiring freeze for two years, so when we do open up a job, we get a lot of applicants who are applying for it,” she said. “Are they the best and the brightest and fit exactly with the experience that we’re looking for? Not always. But we certainly have been able to capture some people in this downtime that are looking for a more stable environment to work in.”

Crime Report: Bike-By Butt Grabbings

By ARLnow.com

In this week’s Arlington County crime report, we find two similar cases of sexual battery. In each case, the suspect is alleged to have committed the crime while riding a bicycle.

SEXUAL BATTERY 12/04/10, 2800 block of N. 11th Street. On December 4 at 2 am, a woman was walking when an unknown male rode past her on a bicycle and grabbed her buttocks. After the woman walked further, the same suspect rode by her again, and assaulted her a second time. The suspect was wearing a dark knit cap and a dark jacket. He also had long dark hair.

SEXUAL BATTERY 12/04/10, 4400 block of N. 15th Street. On December 4 at 4:45 pm, a woman was running on a bike trail when an unknown subject rode up behind her on a bicycle and grabbed her buttocks. The suspect was an Asian or Hispanic teenage male, 5’7″ and 140 lbs. He was wearing a black puffy jacket, jeans, brown boots, and carried a green backpack.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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Man Accused of Assaulting Leaf Truck Driver

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 3:00 p.m.) A homeowner in the Woodmont neighborhood has been charged with assaulting a county leaf truck driver.

Police say Kevin Love, 46, was upset that the leaf truck vacuum didn’t pick up all the leaves on his street Saturday morning. Some sort of verbal dispute ensued, according to police spokesperson Det. Crystal Nosal. Love is then alleged to have punched the driver.

He was subsequently charged with assault and battery and released on a summons.

In an email to ARLnow.com, however, Love says the assault allegations are false.

“I was not arrested,” he said. “I never punched or touched this county employee, ever. There was a verbal dispute after this employee made a discriminatory remark directed at me, but that was the extent of it.”

“I now have to go to court over a out and out lie,” added Love, a local real estate agent. “This has been a very humiliating and damaging attack on my character.”

The county’s Department of Environmental Services said the leaf collection employee reported the incident to a supervisor. The situation is being handled as a “personnel matter,” according to a spokesperson.

How might the situation have been handled better? The county has a leaf collection hotline that residents can call to request a second pass. The phone number is 703-228-6565.

See the updated county leaf collection schedule here.

Arlington Police Plan DUI Checkpoint, Patrols This Weekend

By ARLnow.com

On Saturday, Arlington police will send the message that “buzzed driving is drunk driving.”

Together with the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police, Arlington Police will set up a DUI checkpoint at an undisclosed location in the county. All cars passing through the checkpoint will be stopped, and drivers suspected of operating a vehicle while intoxicated will be asked to pull to the side to perform further sobriety testing.

In addition to the checkpoint, police say they will be adding extra DUI saturation patrols for the remainder of the holiday season.

In Virginia, the maximum penalty for a first DUI conviction is 12 months in jail, a $2,500 fine and a 12-month suspension of driving privileges.

Towing Drama Outside Ray’s Hell Burger

By ARLnow.com

Just in case you’re not sick of towing stories yet, here’s one we happened to catch while checking out the new Michael Landrum seafood restaurant (update: lots of people coming and going from the brown-papered doors, but still no returned calls from Landrum).

Across the street from the new restaurant, an Advanced tow truck and a guy in a Mercedes were locked in a towing stalemate in the parking lot of the shopping center that houses Ray’s Hell Burger. In one corner, the tow truck and its crew of two had the Mercedes in its steely grips. In the other corner, the Mercedes driver was laying on the horn and refusing to get out of the car.

Ten minutes into the struggle, an Arlington police officer showed up and mediated. After some discussion, he allowed the tow truck to haul the Benz off to the Advanced impound lot.

The driver, who would only give his first name of Abe, was left fuming.

“Now I have to find a way to get to my bank to get cash, to get to the lot to have my car returned, then I would probably have to take a day off to go to court to sue them if I want justice,” Abe said. “They’re crooks because the car was not parked illegally and they’re getting away with it… we have no recourse, the police seem to be working against us, not with us.”

Abe explains that he was at the shopping center to drop off four boxes at a package center for a friend. He circled the crowded lot several times before deciding to park behind a couple of parked cars. He left a friend outside to make sure no one needed him to move his car.

Within two minutes, he said, the tow truck arrived. He somehow managed to get in his car while it was being hooked up, which prevented the towers from going anywhere, for safety reasons. The ten minute standoff then ensued, with the horn blaring, a small crowd watching and a number of people in parked cars blocked from leaving.

Abe says he wasn’t offered the chance to pay a drop fee (usually $25), but two witnesses we talked to told a different story. They said the driver was offered the chance to pay a drop fee, but started cursing and becoming belligerent instead, at which point the tow crew retreated to their truck and waited for police to arrive.

In a poll conducted yesterday, 55 percent of ARLnow.com readers said that the right of property owners to tow illegally-parked cars outweighs any need for more stringent predatory towing laws.

Blind Item: Food Truck Follies

By ARLnow.com

It’s been a while since we did a blind item, but this one was too ridiculous to pass up.

Which Rosslyn and Crystal City businesses have been calling the police on the new Bada Bing sandwich truck? Cops have shown up at the truck at least eight times since it launched just over a month ago, we hear.

Officers show up, dutifully check out the truck’s license and examine whether it’s parked legally, and inevitably leave without finding a violation.

Two businesses in particular have been very proactive about calling the cops when Bada Bing shows up in their neighborhood.

“It happens at those two locations pretty much every time we go there, sometimes multiple times per day,” said Bada Bing owner Nicholas Terzella

Morning Poll: Aggressive Towing in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Between 15,000 and 20,000 cars are towed in Arlington each year, according to a three-part series on towing in the county by TBD’s Rebecca Cooper.

Of those thousands of tows every year, only about 50 result in formal complaints being filed with the police. And of those complaints, the cases where the towing company actually violated a county ordinance is in the single digits, according to an extrapolation of Cooper’s numbers.

When we last wrote about Arlington’s biggest tow company, Advanced Towing, a torrent of hate was unleashed in the comment section. But if such a large percentage of tows are legitimate, then are more stringent regulations necessary?

For the time being, county board chairman Jay Fisette tells TBD that he’s just focusing on reducing “predatory tows” in a number of towing “hot spots.” Is that enough?

Crime Report: Taxi Drivers Attacked

By ARLnow.com

Two weeks ago we reported on a taxi driver accused of forcing a young female customer to get out in a bad neighborhood, leading to her being attacked while walking home. Here are two reminders that taxi drivers themselves are often in harms way.

ATTEMPT ROBBERY-ARREST 11/29/10, 2100 block of Wilson Boulevard. On November 29 at 4:30 pm, a man approached a cab driver and tried to assault him while demanding money. Bukhari Daoud, 31, of no fixed address, was charged with Attempted Robbery and Drunk in Public. He was held without bond.

ROBBERY 11/30/10, 400 block of S. 23rd Street. On November 30 at 1 am, a man asked a cab driver for money, and stole his meter when the driver refused. The suspect also assaulted the victim. The suspect is known.

The rest of this week’s Arlington County crime report, after the jump.

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7-Eleven Robbed in Bluemont

By ARLnow.com

The 7-Eleven store at 5112 Wilson Boulevard in Bluemont was robbed around 2:45 this morning.

A man walked into the store, implied that he had a gun and then took money from the cash register, according to Arlington Police spokesperson Det. Crystal Nosal. No weapon was seen and no one was injured.

Update at 4:15 p.m. — Here’s the entry from this week’s crime report:

ROBBERY 12/01/10, 5100 block of Wilson Boulevard. On December 1 at 2:45 am, a man implied a weapon and forced a convenience store clerk to give him money from the cash register. The suspect is described as a 30 year-old African American male, 5’9” and170 lbs. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and dark pants and shoes.

Isolated Flooding, Traffic Light Problems Reported

By ARLnow.com

Reports of isolated pockets of high water and traffic light problems have been trickling in over the past hour as rain continues to fall.

According to scanner traffic, the ramp from westbound Route 50 to westbound Washington Boulevard has been shut down by police due to high water. Likewise, police are checking out a call for high water in the area of North Glebe Road and Chesterbrook Road.

Heavy rain invariably tends to cause problems with traffic lights in the county.

Earlier, it was reported that the lights at the tricky intersection of South Hayes Street and 15th Street were flashing.

Now, police are heading to the equally tricky intersection of Fort Myer Drive and North Lynn Street to direct traffic. Traffic lights are reported to be completely dark in the area. (We’ve moved updates on the power outage in Rosslyn to a separate post.)

Update at 11:25 a.m. — There’s a large pool of standing water on the HOV lanes of I-395 approaching the 14th Street Bridge. Traffic cameras show that it’s in the same spot as the pool of water left by a spring storm, shown in one of the photos below.

The water caused a car to stall out in the left-hand lane. Police are now on the scene

Crime Report: Restaurant Patrons to the Rescue

By ARLnow.com

The latest Arlington County crime report shows that mid-to-late November has been somewhat slow, crime-wise. Most of the crimes reported by Arlington Police from Nov. 17 to 23 were of the standard larceny/burglary variety.

One such incident stands out, however. Two young men from Alexandria were taken into custody in Crystal City after their alleged cell phone theft was foiled by a group of restaurant patrons.

LARCENY FROM A PERSON-ARREST 11/18/10, 2200 block of Crystal Drive. On November 18 at 7:50 pm, two men entered a restaurant and took a phone off a table. Several patrons of the restaurant stopped the suspects until police arrived. Darius Williams, 18, of Alexandria, was charged with Grand Larceny from a Person and Wearing a Mask or Hood to Conceal Identity. He was held on a $3,000 bond. Jamal Walker, 18, of Alexandria, was charged with Grand Larceny from a Person. He was held on a $2,500 bond.

The rest of the crime report, after the jump.

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