Our Community in Fairfax County, Virginia
Sgt. Alan Hanson led a presentation from the police department on issues of concern to Westlawn. Sgt. Hanson introduced detective Paul Willamin, who spoke about two recent arrests in Mason District that have greatly reduced residential burglaries. One was an arrest noted in our last newsletter about a home burglary that occurred in Westlawn. Another involved a small group of older teens and a lone adult male, who police believe were responsible for a string of burglaries. In both cases, arrests resulted from calls of burglaries in progress.
Detective Willamin emphasized the importance of reporting suspicious activity to the police, including important details such as vehicle description and license plate numbers.
One Westlawn resident asked if private citizens could testify in front of a magistrate if they witness an incident of excessive speeding in the neighborhood. According to Sgt. Hanson, this can be done, but the witnesses need to be able to articulate what they saw to convince a judge that what they witnessed really was reckless driving. Speeding alone is hard to prove, as the only evidence residents would likely have is a personal impression that a vehicle was speeding, without a clear indication of how fast the vehicle actually was traveling.
More convincing would be reports of a vehicle weaving, crossing lanes, running stop signs without breaking, passing in a no-passing zone (applies to all streets in Westlawn), etc. If residents choose to pursue this approach, they would have to testify in front of a magistrate once to raise the charges and a later time with the defendant present.
In response to concerns about speeding, the police have staked out areas in Westlawn and other communities in response to complaints by residents, often with few citations written. It is an inefficient use of police resources to monitor roads for random speeding. However, if residents know of a specific location where on specific days of the week at specific times they routinely observe speeding vehicles, please contact the police. Mason District will gladly assign an officer as soon as practical to monitor for speeding and write citations as appropriate.
The police sympathize with our concerns about traffic accidents on the Route 50 and the service road near McDonald's. They noted that there are lots of accidents along the Route 50 corridor between Graham Road and Patrick Henry Road. In particular, they see a problem all along the right turn lane on eastbound Route 50 that begins just before Westmoreland Road and continues all the way to Annandale Road. The police are research accident statistics along this segment and will contact VDOT to explore alternatives for improving traffic safety.
The police discussed a problem they are having at Roundtree Park with unorganized soccer leagues on the weekends. The park was never intended to cater to such large groups, and the parking is inadequate. At peak times, cars parked along the sides of the entrance make the entrance a one-way road, and it discourages local residents from using the park. In addition, the police have observed people selling home-cooked food out the back of their minivans, which is a violation of food permits.
The police are trying to get the fire department to request that at least one side of the entrance road be posted as a No Parking fire lane. One thing they cannot do is restrict park access to Fairfax County residents who wish to play on the fields. While organized leagues need permits to use fields in Fairfax County parks, unorganized leagues do not. Even worse, unorganized leagues do not have anyone in charge, so the police have nobody to contact to discuss issues with.
Representatives from the Fairfax County Park Authority, Department of Health, Office of the County Executive, Fairfax County Police and the Fire Marshall's office met recently to discuss the situation at Roundtree Park. For their part, the Park Authority has already erected signs stating "No Parking on the Grass" and "Sale of Goods and Services is illegal without approved permits."
The Fire Marshall will soon be erecting "No Parking, Fire Lane" signs on both sides of the entryway and on the inner radius of both semi-circle areas in the parking lot." This will reduce the number of vehicles parking in the lot. Those that park in violation of the new signs will be ticketed and subject to towing if they are creating a hazard. Additionally, the Park Authority is attempting to meet with the groups that have been frequenting the park on Sundays in an attempt to move them to a larger venue.
With all of these county entities working in concert, the police feel that they will be able to solve the problems at the park while addressing the needs of the groups that wish to use the park.
One Thursday, a little after 11:00 a.m., a man saw an individual he didn't recognize go into the house across from his home here in the Mason District. He decided to walk past the neighbor's door. His level of suspicion mounted when he noticed that the door looked like it had been forced open. He took note of the make and model of the unfamiliar person's car and its license tag on his way back to his own home. He didn't waste time thinking about it--he picked up the telephone and called the Fairfax County police. Remember, all he had was a suspicion--but he acted on it.
And, yes-it was a burglar. We always tell you that a burglar wants to get in and out as fast as possible--and this one was fast. He was gone before the first officer arrived. However, because of a watchful neighbor, we had information about the vehicle so we knew who we were looking for. The good news is that the burglar went to jail, and the homes in Mason District are no longer his stomping grounds.
Just think of how differently this story might have ended. The good neighbor reported suspicious activity, described the suspicious person, and provided the vehicle tag number so we could obtain registration information. The homeowner didn't return home and learn of the burglary until six hours later. If that had been the first report of the burglary, how likely do you think it would have been to positively identify the burglar?
Car break-ins continue to be a problem in Westlawn and surrounding areas. Please, don't make it easy by leaving your cars unlocked. Even cars on small side streets far from the main roads are vulnerable. Also, make sure that you do not keep anything valuable in plain sight. As always, if you are a victim of crime, please report it immediately to the police non-emergency number. We will ask the police to update us on their investigation of car break-ins in Westlawn at our February General Meeting.
From Remarks by Fairfax County Police Capt. Audrey Slyman, Mason District Station, February 1999
Capt. Slyman discussed 1998 crime statistics for Westlawn at our 2 February 1999 General Meeting. The most common reported crime in Westlawn last year were domestic disturbances-26 cases for a neighborhood of about 950 homes. We had almost the same number of calls for residential alarms and for suspicious people or vehicles. The latter is due in large part to Westlawn's Neighborhood Watch and helps explain in part why our crime statistics are "very good" compared to surrounding areas.
In 1998, Westlawn had no reported major crime, such as homicide or armed robbery. We reported 18 cases of vehicle tampering (broken windows, slashed tires, scratched paint, etc.) and 11 cases of phone violations (crank calls, repeat calls, etc.) The numbers for other crimes such as car theft, assault, vandalism, graffiti, and theft other than cars were all single digits.
The numbers are very good, but the reality is quite disappointing if you were a victim in one of these cases. There are several steps we can take to ensure that 1999 is a better year for Westlawn: