The Alexandria Citizens’ Police Academy is a 10-week course hosted by the Alexandria Police Department (APD) to offer citizens a better understanding of how the department works. Throughout the course, participants sit in on emergency calls and ride along with police officers on patrol.
In the third week of the course, Deputy Chief David Huchler introduced his department: the Investigations Bureau which looks into major crimes and pursues other investigations beyond the scope or normal Patrol officers. The bureau includes the undercover agents in Vice and Narcotics Section, the Crime Scene Investigation Section, the Public Information Office, and the Internal Investigations section.
CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS SECTION (CIS)
CIS is divided into Crimes Against Persons and Crimes Against Property, a layout Lt. Steve Carr described as a two-headed hydra, where two divisions lead one body of police. While each of those categories have their own leadership, the same detectives work both sides of CIS.
According to Carr, crimes against persons take priority over crimes against property. When police begin an investigation, they review the evidence at the crime scene and assess its “solvability factors,” aspects of the case like evidence or timeliness.
“If we were looking at a stolen auto, for example, we’d look for clues like leftover receipts,” said Sgt. Brendan Jackson, explaining that the receipts could point the police towards a restaurant that may have surveillance or show where the vehicle has been.
“We found a car in Jacksonville that had been stolen in 2011,” said Jackson. “It had been sold in New York, and then in Florida, and was about to be shipped off and sold in Libya when someone checked the vehicle identification number (VIN).”
For other stolen property, Jackson says police check with the two pawn shops in Alexandria.
“If it’s in the shop, we call the store and they put a hold on the item,” said Jackson. “We call the owner to say it was found and ask them to identify the item.”
One of the major property crimes involves scams and identity theft. Sgt. Joseph Green reviewed one of the most prevalent scams hitting local businesses: the Virginia Power Scam. A caller will contact a business on Friday, saying that they’ve been trying to reach the business but have been unable to and that they’re about to cut off power to the building. The business will often yield and pay the cost being quoted out of fear that the business would lose customers on one of their most busy nights of the week.
Another scam in the area is the overpayment, where someone sends a check in advance to a person advertising a service, like babysitting, but deliberately puts a higher amount than previously agreed to. The recipient will inform the scammer that they sent more than they were supposed to, to which the scammer proposes that the recipient deposit the check and send the balance back to the scammer in cash, except the check is a fake and bounces after the recipient has already mailed the money.
But some local scams don't require any human contact at all. One of the biggest theft issues in the area remains ATM skimming, where a device will be attached to an ATM that collects credit card information and a camera that records the key code.
Green says that the devices are usually attached using double sided tape, so wiggling the card in the slot can sometimes dislodge the device.
“Skimming is so prevalent that I don’t use street ATMs,” said Huchler. “I go into the bank if possible. We get a skimming case about every other day.”
According to Carr, groups of criminals go up and down the coast planting and collecting traps on ATMs. When caught, it’s usually at traffic stops or search warrants where the skimming equipment is found.
“It is not regional, it’s a big crime,” said Carr. The criminals sell the information websites where someone can buy 10,000 credit card numbers, and while some may already have been caught,
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Green also supervises the Domestic Violence Unit. The department defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive or coercive behaviors by an individual to control another member of their family or a relationship. According to police, domestic violence situations can be one of the most unpredictable, as the region was recently reminded when two Prince William police officers were shot in response to a domestic violence call and one was killed.
“Domestic violence is a very dangerous situation,” said Huchler. “You don’t know what your’e getting into. In Virginia, there’s a mandatory arrest for cases of domestic abuse.”
“Officers need to keep in mind that they’re taking a family member or a financial provider,” said Carr. “Emotions change, and couples might team up. You’d think the abused would be happy to be out of the situation, but they sometimes attack the responding officer.”
The situations can also be complicated, with underlying issues that are not immediately apparent. Carr referenced a case where a woman found out a man was cheating and slapped him, but then the man began to beat her. In this scenario, when the police arrived on the scene, he did not admit to any wrongdoing but she confessed that she had started it by slapping him. Later, when she is brought into jail, further evidence and examination reveals that he had physically assaulted her. He is arrested and charged with aggravated assault.
“It’s not about who assaulted who first,” said Green, “it’s about who was the predominant aggressor.”
INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS
Sergeants Nick Lion and Linda Erwin compose Alexandria’s Internal Investigations, the section that coordinates all internal investigations and disciplinary action, though only the Chief of Police can assign punishments. The two of them also screen complaints and concerns received from citizens.
Investigations range from minor infractions to reviewing the use of force by an officer. The latter is fairly uncommon in Alexandria. Of the 5,128 criminal arrests in 2015, only 33 involved any type of force. Eighteen of those were “body,” meaning an officer had to grapple in some way with a suspect. Internal Investigations looks into each of those instances though to examine whether the use of force was appropriate.
“Officer-involved shootings are first investigated as a criminal case, then as an administrative one,” said Lion, explaining that during the criminal investigations, Police have the same rights as any citizen. However, during the administrative review by internal investigations, they are not given those same rights. “The Miranda does not apply, they cannot remain silent.”
Internal Investigations keeps track of uses of force by officers, even where exonerated, to check for patterns of behavior to determine if additional training is needed.
“It’s not about the number of inquiries,” said Erwin, “It’s about the results.”
There were 91 total internal investigations in 2015, of which 64 were sustained. Only one-third of the investigations are prompted by outside complaints. Lion says many investigations center around minor policy violations. Most of the calls that come in from outside are not people wanting to file formal complaints, but rather informal complaints that Internal Investigations pass along to the officer and his commander.
“Sometimes parties have good or bad experiences with officers, like in traffic stops, and just want to vent,” said Lion. “They’ll say something like ‘the officer was too robotic’ and we explain that their behavior is for safety reasons and for protection in court.”
When someone outside the department does lodge a formal complaint, they receive a letter from the Chief of Police detailing the outcome of the investigation, though it doesn’t specify what the punishment was.
Internal Investigations keeps all of its work in paper files, though they are currently looking into the possibility of updating to an electronic system. The difficulty, Lion said, is that Internal Investigations servers would need to be kept separate from the rest of the police servers.
Internal Investigations also conducts some training for new hires on rules of conduct.
Lion says those rules of conduct cover the actions of police officers both on and off duty. This includes, increasingly, social media usage by police officers. Erwin tells officers, as a rule of thumb, to follow the “Mom rule.”
“If you wouldn’t do it in front of your mother,” said Erwin, “don’t do it.”
GANGS
Detective Darryl Ferrer, who leads the APD’s Gang Unit, gave his presentation in civilian clothes having just returned from a surveillance operation. There are at least seven gangs represented throughout Alexandria, though some have a more active role than others. One of the most popular gangs in the area is MS-13, a gang whose membership consists largely of Salvadoran immigrants. MS-13 gang members are allegedly at the center of two unrelated 2015 murders, both set to begin preliminary hearings in April. Ferrer said the gang started in Los Angeles in the 1980s as a group of immigrant youths listening to music and smoking marijuana, but the group became increasingly violent over the years.
However, Ferrer also made the distinction that there is nothing illegal about belonging to a gang, it’s activity that the individuals engage in as part of a gang that is criminal.
Ferrer said he believes that youth, through movies, music, television, and unfiltered access to the internet and social media, grow up in a heavily gang-influenced society.
“I like the movies, but if you don’t educate your kids, they can grow up idealizing a [lifestyle] of money and fame.”
Ferrer said that gang activity follow a few common sets of behavior, no matter their affiliation: the gang members don’t usually walk around alone, and while they usually carry weapons of some sort, they are often hidden. Higher ranking gang members tend to take things from their underlings, from shoes to girlfriends, as a form of tribute.
There are several ways of entering gangs, but typically membership is earned by enduring a beating by the existing members, a blessing given by a leader of the gang, a criminal initiation usually involving committing a robbery, or being voted in by the existing membership. Women are often admitted to the gang in exchange for sexual favors.
Many gangs use graffiti to mark their territory or to dispute the markings by another gang, though it’s impossible to whether the the marks are left by someone seeking to establish a foothold in the area or just someone passing through.
Graffiti associated with MS-13 ranges from simple spray paint of their name to a “La Garra,” or Devil’s Claw, a symbol with the middle and ring finger pointed in and the the pointer and pinkie spread wide. MS-13 is most commonly associated with blue and white clothing, representing El Salvador. But while some gangs are notorious for displaying colors, Ferrer says the reality of gang fashion has shifted and adapted to modern styles.
“Now they dress to blend in,” said Ferrer, adding that identification is complicated because, “a lot of people just imitate the style and colors of the gang.”
VICE
Vice works undercover. It’s officers are often unshaved and wear no police uniform and drive no marked police cars. There’s a sense of isolation to the posting, with little social media presence encouraged, not being allowed to attend funerals for other police officers or visiting police bars. When Captain Dennis Andreas was promoted from the unit to Commander of the Patrol Support Bureau, he said that many in the Alexandria Police Department had thought he’d transferred into the role. And yet, according to Sgt. John East, it is simultaneously one of the most thrilling and tedious assignments in the APD.
“I’d be lying if I said it’s not cool,” said East. “But it’s not glamorous, our world is very grey. A lot of times it’s like nailing jello to a tree.”
The Vice unit investigates prostitution and various illegal contraband, but their primary investigations center around drug use.
“By and large, the most prolific drug [in Alexandria] is marijuana, immediately after that is cocaine, then PCP, prescription drugs, and heroin.”
East said that heroin is making a comeback nationwide, but that Alexandria has not seen as significant an uptick in heroin use as neighboring D.C., where heroin is cheaper.
East said that, while some of Vice’s work is nerve wracking, much of it ranges from mundane to gross. East recalled trash rips with particular disgust; remembering a time when he was going digging through garbage and another officer on the unit threw up.
“We’re not as interested in going after users, we’re looking at the mid to upper level [dealers and suppliers] in large scale networks,” said East. “We try to flip dealers instead of arresting them. [Investigations] always start local but eventually get regional.”
East described the way most drug rings start, with the convenience of one person in a state that’s a source of drugs (like California) sending a small supply to a friend in a state with a demand-heavy black market (like Virginia). The more the suppliers get away with at first, the more product they attempt to push through. Drug supplies often hide their product in toys, triple sealing the bag and trying to add perfume to mask the odor. East said they once discovered 40 lbs of marijuana being transported in the mail for distribution in the area.
The recipient might begin selling it to a friend or moving the supply into a friend’s place, from which the operation continues to grow. But as it does, it increases its risk of attracting a police presence. East said that informants are vital to Vice operations, and leverage is key to building a network of informants.
“Someone with a good job may not want to be charged with a drug offense,” said East. “That’s leverage.”
East admitted that, as good of an undercover police officer as he was, he could never capture the language or mannerisms quite the way a real customer does. For example: a Vick is 7 grams of a drug, usually cocaine, named after quarterback Michael Vick.
According to East, Vice stings can be intense or tedious, but are always unpredictable. East described stings as “boredom punctuated with terror.” Often, a meet is scheduled with drug dealers who cancel the meeting on a whim. It’s frustrating, but East said it happens regularly. Other times, deals can become dangerous very quickly. East referenced one scenario where, instead of marijuana, a dealer brought a gun and put it to one of the undercover officer’s head. Eventually shooting started between the two parties, but no one was hurt. Neither were killed or injured.
“It’s an endorphin high,” said East. “Those situations are their own kind of drug.”
When they do work as police, as in raids, officers in the Vice unit use balaclavas to cover their faces to protect their identity. Lion, from Internal Investigations, said that the officers working in Vice are still held accountable for their actions, but that the rules are a little different.
“It’s a grey area that is more permitted within policy,” said Lion. “These guys are trying hard not to be cops.”