Fairfax County officials are exploring ways to crack down on the illegal use of fireworks.

At a meeting Tuesday (Sept. 12), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to consider expanding the enforcement powers of the Fairfax County Police Department related to fireworks.

Currently, FCPD officers don’t have jurisdiction to issue citations for individuals using fireworks illegally — a problem that Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk, who introduced the proposal, says “stifles” the county’s ability to prevent and end unlawful fireworks displays.

The county’s code currently designates the Office of the Fire Marshal as the only enforcement agency for issues related to fireworks, which can only be sold locally from June 1 to July 15 each year.

Around Independence Day, the office lacks bandwidth and staff to respond to calls for service and on-site safety protocol, according to Lusk.

The change was sparked by an increase in the number of fireworks-related incidents tackled by the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, particularly around the Fourth of July.

According to the board matter, Deputy Fire Chief John Walser has said that this July 4 had “the most significant number of incidents of any [day] in the time I have been in the Fire Marshal’s Office.”

Between July 1 and 4, the police department received 60 calls of service related to fireworks displays in the Franconia District station alone. Just on July 4, county firefighters responded to 12 fires, “almost all of which were certainly related to fireworks,” Lusk said.

Staff will now work on drafting language for an ordinance that will be considered by the board before the end of the first quarter of 2024. A renewed interagency public awareness campaign on fireworks rules and safety is also planned.

Photo via FCFRD/Twitter

The McLean Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) is a step closer to obtaining a brand-new ambulance.

The department got the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors’ unanimous approval on July 25 to borrow up to $250,000 from a private lender to buy fire and rescue equipment.

Federal tax law allows volunteer fire departments to obtain loans for fire and rescue equipment “at a lower tax-exempt interest rate” if the financing is approved by “the elected body of the locality” served by the department, county staff said in the board meeting agenda.

The loan will supplement a $13,000 donation that the MVFD got in June from the Woman’s Club of McLean, a charitable group that organized a Kitchen and Garden Tour this spring as a fundraiser for the department.

The department also raised funds through Christmas ornament sales and other activities to pay for the new ambulance, which will cost a total of $335,000.

MVFD currently has two ambulances. Department officials previously told FFXnow that the new “state-of-the-art” vehicle will have a power load cot system and other upgrades that will make it safer and easier to use for paramedics.

The ambulance is expected to arrive late this summer or early fall, MVFD President Patricia Moynihan said.

After acquiring the ambulance, the department hopes to get a new fire engine. The approximately $500,000 cost will be split between MVFD and the county.

Handling 911 calls has never been a regular 9-to-5 job, but a national staffing shortage has increased the hours and pressure felt by call takers and dispatchers across the country.

Fairfax County’s Department of Public Safety Communications wasn’t spared from the workforce challenges that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping from close to 180 staffers before 2020 to about 160 people right now.

The gap is sizable enough that workers are required to take about two overtime shifts every four months, but it’s not as drastic as the vacancy levels reported at other sites, even though the DPSC is the biggest 911 center in Virginia and one of the largest in the U.S., Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) Officer Paul Ballerini says.

For instance, Richmond’s 911 agency, the state’s second largest center, reported earlier this year that it was 30 operators short, while D.C. had 39 call taker and dispatcher vacancies.

“Two additional mandatory shifts per person for a third of the year is not bad, especially hearing [about] other centers, reading online how some other similar-sized agencies are just doing tons of overtime,” Ballerini told FFXnow.

Initially, the pandemic didn’t have much of an impact on the 911 center. With people generally staying home and minimizing interactions with others, the volume of calls declined, according to Ballerini.

However, after a while, DPSC started seeing some of the same turnover that has hit other professions, from the police to trash collectors and restaurants.

“Like most other professions, people just started jumping jobs,” Ballerini said. “Not in a bad way, just people spent more time on themselves and learned about themselves and moved to other professions. So, we were hit the same as everybody else…so we started ramping up hiring and training.”

About 3,952 911 workers across 774 centers in the U.S. left the profession in 2022, often citing the stress of the job and options for better hours, pay and opportunities as their reasons for leaving, according to a study released earlier this year by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch and National Association of State 911 Administrators.

While 27% saw no change in staffing levels over the past four years, nearly one-third of the study’s respondents reported vacancy rates of 30% or higher, including 13 that said at least 70% of their positions were unfilled.

Ballerini says Fairfax County’s current 911 staffing levels are slightly above its minimum standard after hitting maximum levels before the pandemic.

Every 12-hour shift must have at least four police dispatchers and four fire dispatchers on each of its four squads, which manage two district stations each. There are also ideally 20 call takers per day, though there can be as few as 13 people on the phones depending on the workload.

“Some people get through parts of training and realize it’s not for them and end up dropping out, but we work hard to try to stay consistent levels, not just for the public, but for morale inside the center,” Ballerini said. “I feel we’ve been pretty decent about doing that.” Read More

The McLean Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) will soon get a new and improved ambulance, thanks in part to the success of a recent “Kitchen and Garden Tour.”

The Woman’s Club of McLean, a local charitable group, presented a check with the $13,000 raised by the tour to the fire department on Monday (June 19), fulfilling a promise that got deferred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think most of us have had the benefit of calling the fire department,” Women’s Club member Kay Burnell said, recalling one time when her husband got ill and collapsed. “…Most of us have had an experience with them where there’s a fire or an accident, so we just felt we needed to support them and say thank you to them.”

Organized by co-chairs Burnell, Karen Moore and Silke Soff, the Kitchen and Garden Tour on April 27 gave community members a chance to explore the kitchens and gardens of houses on Ballantrae Farm Drive and Countryside Court at Holyrood Drive.

The Woman’s Club, which was founded in 1958, had organized a kitchen and garden tour just once before to raise money for veteran housing at the retirement community Vinson Hall, according to Burnell. The concept was revived this year as an alternative to the usual Holiday Homes Tour fundraiser, which has been on hold during the pandemic.

The pandemic also delayed MVFD’s 100-year anniversary celebration, which got pushed from 2021 to 2022. The Woman’s Club had planned a fundraiser for the department in 2020 to support the festivities.

“Because of the pandemic we were unable to raise the money,” Burnell said. “This year we tried again and happily were able to make good on our promise of 2020.”

The change in timing turned out to be fortuitous for the fire department, which is looking to add a fire engine after acquiring the new ambulance.

With a total price tag of $335,000, the ambulance is expected to arrive later this summer or early fall, according to MVFD President Patricia Moynihan. The department also raised funds through donations, Christmas ornament sales and other activities, including taking out a loan.

Replacing one of the department’s two ambulances, the new vehicle will be a “state-of-the-art piece of apparatus,” Moynihan says.

“We’re super excited and I know the ladies have worked really hard on this, and so we’re really appreciative,” she told FFXnow.

According to MVFD Emergency Medical Services Captain Lynn Clancy, one of the biggest improvements will be the addition of a power load cot system.

“We are always looking to improve safety and this system will use mechanical lifting to move the stretcher into and out of the ambulance,” Clancy said. “It is safer for the EMT/Paramedics and the patients. Back injuries are the biggest career-ending injuries in EMS. Additionally, under our capital equipment replacement plan, it is time to replace one of the existing, heavily-used vehicles, which is becoming unreliable.”

The new engine will cost about $500,000, half of which will be covered by Fairfax County, Moynihan says. The volunteer fire department hasn’t started fundraising for its half of the costs yet, though the Woman’s Club likely won’t be as involved as it was for the ambulance.

According to Burnell, the organization typically gives equal amounts to the different charities it supports, so another big fundraiser for the MVFD isn’t in the works.

However, a repeat of the Kitchen and Garden Tour may be on the table for next year. After experiencing a decline during the pandemic, the Women’s Club has seen an uptick in members since this year’s tour, which Burnell says “was such a festive day and was so well-received.”

Those who miss the traditional Holiday Homes Tour, which saw volunteers decorate houses in McLean for participants to visit, can rest assured that the club feels the same way.

“We’ve done it for over 55 years. So, we’re very hopeful that we can do that,” Burnell said. “If we can’t, then probably we will do this kitchen garden tour as our main fundraiser.”

Photo courtesy MVFD

A survey mostly taken by respondents who contacted the Fairfax County Police Department showed high levels of positive community sentiment for the department.

The survey — conducted as part of a nine-month pilot program to engage the community and find information on how the community feels about the agency — kicked off in late May last year through Axon’s My90 program.

The program sent text messages to people who reached out to the agency to request specific types of services.

“My90 is one of many tools we use to engage with our community, better understand how the public feels about interactions with our department, and build trust,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said. “Since deploying My90, we have collected thousands of responses from all over Fairfax County and have the opportunity to review the valuable feedback we gain from community members we have just served.”

It’s unclear how the method of pooling survey respondents skewed the results.

Most respondents contacted FCPD to report a crime, accident or concerns — suggesting some level of comfort with contacting the FCPD. As a result, roughly 45% of the interactions were with a dispatcher and 41% were with a police officer. The remaining 9% were with animal control.

“There is no way for us to tell if the results are skewed or not,” an FCPD spokesperson told FFXnow when asked how the survey method may have skewed results.

The spokesperson added that the police department did issue an open call for the survey last May.

Traffic offenses (22%) and theft of personal property (18%) were flagged as the top concerns in the community. Violent physical attacks was the top safety concern for roughly 15% of respondents, although 26% wrote “other” as the top safety concern.

When asked what FCPD should do to improve safety in the community, nearly half of respondents (48%) said they wanted to see increased patrol visibility.

Other improvements ranked relatively low in the community, including increasing the number of officers (14%), increased community engagement (13%), increased information sharing (9%) and other (14%).

More than 70% of respondents said they were treated with respect, treated fairly and felt safe contacting FCPD based on their interaction with the police department.

Respondents were predominantly white — 63% — followed by Asian American (10%) and African American (9%). Respondents also skewed older, with 36% between the ages of 46 and 60 and 27% over 61. The gender mix was roughly equally distributed.

Based on their recent interactions, 68% of respondents said their view of FCPD was very positive and 76% said they received the help they needed.

The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is expanding the use of automated license plate reader technology across the county, despite concerns from civil rights groups.

The department will install 25 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) around Fairfax County by the spring, FCPD spokesperson Sergeant Hudson Bull confirmed to FFXnow.

This expansion of the program comes after an eight-week “test period,” where the camera system was placed in two locations and assisted in “over 35 cases which have led to over 60 arrest charges,” Bull said.

Based on that data, the trial period has now been extended an additional 10 months to Oct. 31, 2023.

Over the next nine months, cameras will watch more than two dozen “high-crime” areas in the county.

“The camera placement is based on data showing where most stolen vehicles are recovered and where most crime occurs that we believe these cameras could assist us in solving,” Bull said.

The camera system comes from Flock Safety, which has installed ALPRs in more than 2,000 localities across the country.

The ALPR cameras capture license plates, vehicle color, make and model, and send a “real-time alert” to law enforcement when a stolen car or a vehicle used in a crime is detected within a database.

During the initial trial period in November and December, FCPD says the system helped it recover six stolen cars worth an estimated $350,000. In one car, fentanyl and methamphetamines were found, and another had more than five pounds of marijuana, police say.

The system also helped police locate two missing persons when the cameras detected vehicles associated with those cases.

“Two persons were quickly located by officers and safely returned home after alerts were sent,” Bull wrote. “The officers can also search the cameras in cases when a person has been missing for several hours but there is a delay in reporting.”

While Flock Safety and FCPD tout ALPRs as crime prevention and solving tools, local civil rights groups have a number of ethical and privacy concerns about the county expanding the program.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) said it wasn’t aware of the program’s expansion prior to being contacted by FFXnow.

“The ACLU is always concerned about the efforts to expand mass surveillance,” ACLU-VA senior staff attorney Matt Callahan told FFXnow. “We consider the privacy of individuals and their freedom of movement to be a core value of society.”

He noted that the organization believes decisions to use ALPRs and other tracking or surveillance technology should be “in the public’s hands” and not solely left to law enforcement or individual vendors like Flock. Read More

The Fairfax County Police Department has revised how its officers respond to “swatting” after seeing a noticeable uptick in such incidents in recent years.

“Swatting” is a form of harassment involving false 911 calls that are intended to draw a heavy law enforcement response, such as a SWAT team, putting the target in a potentially life-threatening situation.

As of Dec. 6, the FCPD had recorded 12 swatting incidents this year, a decline from the 30 seen in 2021 but still significantly higher than the three reported in 2018 and five in 2019, according to data provided to FFXnow. Incidents have climbed into the double digits since 2020, when there were 11.

“As you can tell they have risen over the years,” said Sgt. Lance Hamilton with the police department’s public affairs bureau. “As a result, we have updated our General Orders regarding the response to ‘Swatting’ events in August of this year.”

Effective Aug. 11, the department’s hostage and barricade procedures now includes a specific subsection on potential swatting incidents:

Officers should factor in, prior to attempting to make contact with any individual at a location where a report of a hostage or barricade incident has been communicated through the Department of Public Safety Communications (DPSC), whether or not the incident constitutes a false “swatting” incident. Officers should consider whether the scene matches the 9-1-1 call description and follow-up with criminal investigations of making a false report to police whenever possible.

Officers should consider “if they have legal authority, what are the potential dangers posed to the community/officers, and is there a need for additional specialized resources from our Operations Support Bureau,” Hamilton said.

“In most cases, this is handled by the department’s de-escalation techniques of using time and distance to slow things down,” Hamilton said. “As you can imagine this is a difficult balance when someone calls 911 regarding an active event.”

The policy change came after community members filed complaints about two separate incidents with the county’s Police Civilian Review Panel, which reviews FCPD investigations into abuse of authority and misconduct allegations.

In one case, police were called to an Annandale townhome at 4 a.m. on March 8, 2020 after a man who claimed to be a neighbor called 911 twice, saying the women who lived there were yelling and fighting. The women said the responsing officers knocked excessively and didn’t identify themselves, leading them to not answer the door right away.

In the other, the FCPD sent a full SWAT team to a home after a 911 caller reported shots being fired “during a likely domestic disturbance,” according to the panel’s 2021 annual report.

While the panel found no misconduct in either case, it expressed surprise at the lack of a follow-up investigation into the 911 caller in the first case and suggested that the FCPD reconsider its policies.

“While the Panel is aware that certain rules concerning 9-1-1 procedures are set at the Commonwealth-wide level, it is our hope that the FCPD and the county can work together to make sure that procedures and laws are in place such that the frequency of such dangerous incidents is greatly minimized,” the annual report said. Read More

Fairfax County is once again discussing how to discourage “panhandling” while also declining — at least for the moment — to make it illegal to engage with anyone in a county-owned road or median.

The subject was revived at last week’s board meeting by Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity after cropping up a number of times over the last several years.

Herrity’s board matter argued that people in the road or median asking for money not only “generates considerable public complaint,” but is a safety risk for both those individuals and motorists.

“Anyone who stands in the median of our busy intersections trying to engage with motorists puts themselves in danger and presents a dangerous distraction to motorists,” Herrity’s board matter said. “This applies to panhandlers, fundraisers, marketers, and anyone else in the medians.”

However, a recent study by the county somewhat disputes this assertion. At Herrity’s urging, the board directed staff in May to conduct a study into if there are “public safety risks” in relation to people being in roads asking for money.

Sent to the board in July, the study results concluded that staff was “unable to find a significant public safety risk related to or stemming from panhandling,” mostly because that data wasn’t being collected at that level of specificity.

“While panhandling appears dangerous and generates considerable public complaint, available FCPD data does not support a determination that panhandlers are more likely to be injured or killed than other pedestrians, or that locations where panhandlers are present have an increased risk of traffic accidents,” the study said.

Nonetheless, Herrity disagreed with the assessment by saying a study shouldn’t replace “commonsense.”

While this is a step in the right direction, my colleagues would not approve my related motion that would have directed our staff to have a draft panhandling ordinance prepared for discussion in a Public Safety Committee meeting and/or Closed session.

— Supervisor Pat Herrity (@PatHerrity) October 13, 2022

“With as many tragic pedestrian fatalities as we have had in this County, including one panhandler, I am frankly appalled that we have not done more to protect our residents on this issue. We should not need a study to determine what is commonsense,” Herrity wrote in the board matter.

At the board’s Oct. 11 meeting, Herrity proposed directing staff to “draft a curb-to-curb safety ordinance that would restrict anyone from engaging with motorists between the curbs of a road with the exception of recognized public safety entities,” including for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s annual “Fill the Boot” campaign. Read More

The Fairfax County Police Department could begin using cameras to catch speeders in nine school crossing zones and one highway work zone as soon as early 2023.

The proposed photo speed enforcement pilot program was presented to the Board of Supervisors at a public safety committee meeting Tuesday (Oct. 4).

The work zone included in the pilot would be on Route 28, while the school placements have not been finalized, FCPD Capt. Alan L. Hanson, the police department’s traffic division commander, said.

Drivers caught going at least 10 mph over the speed limit would receive civil penalties, according to the presentation. A maximum penalty of $100 could be incurred for exceeding the limit by at least 20 mph.

A working group including several county departments recommended a six-month pilot program, Hanson said. Their work came after a 2020 state law passed permitting jurisdictions to use speed cameras in school and construction zones.

The draft ordinance authorizes FCPD use of the devices and outlines the fine structure. Photo speed enforcement would aim to reduce the number of people speeding and bring down the number of crashes in and around school areas, Hanson said.

“We’re not trying to entrap people, what we’re trying to do is maintain or gain voluntary compliance,” he said.

Multiple supervisors emphasized that the initiative is not designed to bring in revenue. Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said he doesn’t believe residents will see the program as a money grab, but the board could also avoid this perception by making a plan for what to do with any excess revenue.

“I say plow them back into pedestrian and bicycle safety in and around our schools,” he said.

The state law only enables cameras in designated school crossing and highway work zones. This limits the county’s ability to use them around Blake Lane, where safety concerns have been particularly urgent after an allegedly speeding driver struck and killed two Oakton High School students in June.

The county has already increased fines for speeding and routed school buses off of Blake Lane in the wake of the fatal crash. Read More

The Fairfax County Police Department is under a personnel emergency amid a staffing shortage that has continued for several months. 

In a temporary shift, police officers are transitioning to two 12.5-hour shifts and working mandatory overtime, according to the FCPD. That departs from the standard staffing model of three 11.5-hour shifts.

Additionally, patrol officers “may be required” to help other squads to maintain safe staffing levels, FCPD told FFXnow.

So far, the police department has 194 operational vacancies, but that does not account for 50 recruits currently in the police academy. That leaves 144 total vacancies.

“We have launched a multi-media recruiting campaign this summer with updates videos on our new JoinFCPD.org website,” a spokesperson said.

Some say the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has failed to provide adequate salary increases and other incentives to attract and retain the county’s police force.

While officers saw an average pay increase of nearly 8% in this fiscal year, beginning July 1, pay scale steps were frozen between fiscal years 2019 and 2021.

“The salary increases that some officers received this fiscal year doesn’t make up for what was previously promised to them,” Steve Manohan, president of the county’s chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association said. “Keep in mind, there were hundreds of officers who only received a 4% cost of living increase in fiscal year 2022.”

Board Chairman Jeff McKay says the board is working with FCPD to recruit and retain officers, noting that Chief Kevin Davis has a plan to reach out across the county, region and nationwide — including non-traditional means like advertisements at movie theaters. The department has also reduced the length of its application and background information requirements in an effort to streamline the process.

“All of this is done to position FCPD as an exciting and meaningful career choice for those who may have a calling for public service,” McKay wrote in a statement.

McKay says the county is looking at different ways to support officers as staffing adjustments continue.

“The Fairfax County Police Department is a top destination for anyone who wants to serve their community, and we will continue to get that message out while also exploring ways to maintain our regional competitiveness in compensation and job satisfaction,” he said. “Like with all municipalities during this pandemic era there is much work to be done, but our team–and especially our officers–are up to the task, and we are here to support them 100%.” Read More