Fairfax County Police in the West Springfield District want to stay ahead of the game when it comes to combating crime in the area, and one way to do that is to show people they're around.
West Springfield District Commander Bruce Ferguson said it is hard to tell why crime rates change, since so many factors go into crime increases and reductions. Anything from school being in or out of session, to the time of year and the weather, can affect the crime rate.
"You can’t use inductive reasoning … just because we tried one strategy and crime went down, doesn’t mean it worked," he said.
What he does know is that research shows when people see a heavy police presence, it deters criminals. One way to do that is by traffic enforcement, Ferguson said. People often do not understand how traffic enforcement has anything to do with crime, he said, but it is the sight of the police activity that makes the difference.
"It gives appearance that we’re everywhere … the police are everywhere and they’re stopping everyone," Ferguson said. "Criminals see that and think, ‘this is a hot spot; I don’t want to be here; I’m going to move on.’"
Nationally, violent crime is up and nonviolent crime is down, and the West Springfield District is generally following those same trends.
THE POLICE EXECUTIVE RESEARCH Forum (PERF), a Washington think tank whose board of directors comprises police chiefs from around the country, conducted a study that shows a national upward trend of violent crimes right now. The study, "Violent Crime in America: 24 Months of Alarming Trends," gathered crime data from 56 jurisdictions across the country in 2006 to determine the severity of the upward trend.
PERF gathered the data using the same methods as the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. The organization was able to release the information prior to the FBI report because of a conference that took place in August of last year. More than 170 law enforcement and city officials attended and agreed to release their violent crime data for the first six months of the year — earlier than they normally release the data. The latest statistics for the entire year of 2006 reinforce PERF’s predictions, according to the report.
Based on that data, the think tank determined that a 24-month trend of increased crime is obvious, based on the jurisdictions sampled.
The trend began in 2005, when the nation’s violent crime rate rose by 2 percent — the first increase in 13 years, according to the latest available FBI data.
Fairfax County experienced a 166 percent increase in the number of homicides from 2004 to 2005, which went from nine to 24. In 2006, the rate dropped 20 percent, from 24 in 2005 to 19 in 2006; however, the two-year total increase was still 111 percent, according to PERF. The county’s robberies were up 3 percent in the two-year period, but aggravated assaults decreased almost 12 percent.
In the West Springfield District, the homicide increase was 200 percent from 2004 to 2006, but the increase percentage is misleading because the district had no homicides in 2004, one in 2005 and two in 2006, according to the latest unpublished data provided by the station’s crime analyst, Angelique Abbott. Aggravated assault in the West Springfield District went up from 29 incidents in 2004, to 41 in 2005, and back down to 36 in 2006.
Burglaries, however, went up and down significantly between 2004 and 2006. In 2004, there were 243 burglaries. That number dropped to 167 in 2005, and shot back up to 225 in 2006.
While no means is available to pinpoint why such fluctuation in the statistics occurred, said Ferguson, there are some theories as to what might be contributing to increasing burglaries.
Ferguson said the Lorton area is like a whole new city being added to the district. What used to be a prison and desolate land, is now dense housing developments and booming population growth. There have been several instances of burglars stealing items from homes that are still under construction. While those burglaries might not be confrontational or violent as others might be, they’re still burglaries, he said.
THE WEST SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT is one of the largest, if not the largest, residential police district in the county, suspects Ferguson. Throughout the 60-square-miles of its boundaries, only about 10 police officers are on duty at a time. Add in a population of about 250,000, and it’s a safe bet that the station keeps busy.
Ferguson said there is talk about adding another district to the Lorton area, but that is a long time down the road. In the mean time, he hopes the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will recognize the need for more manpower, and add another police service area, or PSA, to the West Springfield District. That would mean adding about six new officers and a detective that would focus solely on the booming Lorton area.
"You don’t want to wait until the problem gets bad and then address it; playing catch up is pretty hard," he said. "I don’t want us to get into that situation. Once you get a criminal element into your community, it’s very hard to get it out."
Currently, the 10 or so officers on duty during each shift "do it all." They could be responding to one complaint, and a call comes in for another low priority-level complaint. If what the officer is working on takes priority, he or she will just have to complete that before responding to the other call. And if the officer is in a PSA on one side of the district, and response is needed on the other side of the 60-sqaure-mile district, it affects response times.
"The officers are typically running from complaint to complaint," Ferguson said.
The West Springfield District had the longest response time in all priority levels in 2004, according to the latest data available on the county’s Web site. In 2005, those response times increased in every priority level except for level one, according to the most recent data provided by Elizabeth Byrns, of the Fairfax County Police Department’s public information office. The West Springfield District response times were higher than the county average in both 2004 and 2005, but again, Ferguson said there are many contributing factors.
"In the county, we handle about 3,000 to 4,000 calls per day, and West Springfield accounts for quite a bit of that."
THE CITY OF FAIRFAX police chief, Col. Rick Rappoport, recently told the Connection that community involvement with the police force is key to keeping crime under control.
Ferguson couldn’t agree more. Another strategy he’s focusing on in the West Springfield district is the community’s relationship with its police officers. Ferguson said he’s heard a saying that Fairfax County Police officers don’t have legs, since they’re always in their cars.
"That’s one of the things I’m trying to change here," he said. "Get out and meet the community you’re dealing with … if [a community member] knows the officer, [they’re] going to feel more comfortable telling them things."
One way Ferguson is keeping the legs on his officers fit is via neighborhood patrol units or "bike teams." Officers riding through the community on bicycles are more approachable, he said.
"We owe it to the citizens to provide the best services possible," Ferguson said.