By Brian Trompeter
2023 produced pluses and minuses on the crime front in Fairfax County, with murders, traffic deaths and burglaries down and assaults and larcenies up, according to a year-end report issued March 12 by county police.
“The central message conveyed in this report is clear: Fairfax County stands as the safest large jurisdiction in America,” county police said in a press release accompanying the 2023 crime report.
There were 17 murders in Fairfax County last year, down from 22 in 2022. Forcible-sex offenses stayed almost exactly even, declining by six to 362 in 2023, but assault offenses rose significantly. There were 642 aggravated assaults in the county last year, up from 558 in 2022, and 8,135 non-aggravated assaults, up from 7,164 the previous year.
Police officers themselves were assaulted 472 times last year, up from 378 in 2022.
County police recorded 365 burglary/breaking-and-entering cases in 2023, a decline of 23 from a year earlier. Of those, burglaries at commercial properties, pharmacies and offices declined by 29 to 170 last year, but residential ones rose by five to 182 in 2023.
Larceny/theft offenses rose from 15,076 in 2022 to 16,199 last year. Shoplifting incidents accounted for the increase, rising by 2,357 to 8,156 in 2023. This was offset by 2,416 thefts from motor vehicles (down 698) and 875 thefts of motor-vehicle parts (down 641).
County police last year focused heavily on thefts of motor-vehicle parts and analyzed data to determine crime patterns and places experiencing high numbers of such thefts. The department also has several specialized units, including the Tysons Urban Team, which focus on retail theft.
Auto thefts were up, rising by 126 to 1,215 last year. County police said heightened enforcement efforts resulted in a dip in auto thefts last fall and winter.
Robbery figures barely changed, dropping by six to 437 in 2023. There were nine bank robberies (down six), 25 carjackings (down three), 102 commercial robberies (down 29) and four home-invasion robberies (down seven), but robberies of persons rose by 40 to 303 last year.
Arrests were up in most categories in 2023. There were 1,720 arrests for assaults on family members (up 210), 730 arrests for grand-larceny of $1,000 or more not from people (up 105), 188 auto-theft arrests (up 48), petty-larceny arrests for thefts of less than $1,000 not from people rose 228 to 3,384, arrests for robberies on or near streets jumped 26 to 133 and arrests for strangulations resulting in bodily injuries declined by one to 244.
Fairfax County police issued 18,170 more summonses in 2023 for a total of 64,767. That figure does not include speed-camera citations.
Total fatalities on county roads declined sharply, from 45 in 2022 to 29 last year. Driver fatalities dipped by one to 11; passenger and motorcyclist deaths stayed flat at four and five, respectively; and pedestrian fatalities declined by 15 for a total of nine last year.
County police credited a number of initiatives – including the “Road Shark,” “50 Means 50,” “Click It or Ticket” and “Move Over” enforcement campaigns – with producing positive results.
2024, by contrast, is proving pretty rough so far with regard to roadway fatalities. As of March 11, there had been eight traffic-crash deaths in Fairfax County, up from three year-to-date in 2022. As of March 10, county police had recorded three pedestrian fatalities, up from none year-to-date in 2022.
