Mason Police Station commander reports on crime in Mason District

From the left: Sgt. Tony Erway, 2018 Mason District Police Officer of the Year Edwin Brandolino, CAC chair Debi Gerald, assistant commander of the Mason station Lt. Michael Tucker, and  station commander Capt. Brooke Wright.

Some crimes have declined in the Mason Police District in 2019 from 2018 – robberies and  assaults are down a bit – while others are up, including driving while intoxicated and vehicle thefts, said commander Capt. Brooke Wright in a state of the station report at the Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) March 5.

DWI arrests were way up; there were 353 in 2018, compared to 327 in 2017. Wright attributes the increase to better enforcement, noting that the station has a midnight squad focusing on drunk drivers.

Wright calls vehicle thefts crimes of opportunity and says many could be prevented if people keep their cars locked and don’t leave cars running with keys inside when they make a brief stop at a 7-Eleven.

The two homicides that occurred in Mason District in 2018, in November and December, were both related to domestic conflicts. The public is not in a lot of danger, Wright says, because homicides in this area tend to be domestic or involve gang members killing one another.

A high-profile double homicide in Annandale in 2016 has been resolved, she said. A man who killed his adult daughter and her husband is in jail with no chance of parole.

Among the major cases in 2018, she says the police have a couple of potential suspects in the incident involving anti-Semitic graffiti that defaced the Jewish Community Center.

Juveniles have been arrested in connection with the commercial burglaries at Graham Park Plaza in May, she said, and arrests have been made in the shooting incident last February at the Goodwin House in Bailey’s Crossroads.

Among new developments at the Mason Police Station, officer Gary Moore has been appointed to a new position, community outreach officer. He plans to visit elementary schools to give children a positive view of the police.

Some kids’ only interaction with the police is seeing a neighbor arrested or seeing their parents pulled over in the car, Wright says. Moore will continue the Lunch Buddy program started by former crime prevention officer Heather West, who has been transferred out of the Mason station. The goal is for elementary students to see a police officer in uniform and see that they care about them and is a human being and not someone to fear.

Another key issue Wright plans to focus on this year is pedestrian safety. Crashes involving pedestrians are up countywide.

The police will tackle this problem by urging pedestrians to use crosswalks and working with VDOT to identify areas where crosswalks need to be repainted.

Wright and several other officers at the Mason Police District will participate in the Police Unity Tour, a three-day, 230-mile bicycle ride from Richmond to Washington, D.C., starting May 9. The Unity Tour honors fallen officers and raises funds for their families.

Also at the CAC meeting, Pfc. Edwin Brandolino was named the Mason station’s 2018 Officer of the Year.

Brandolino was praised for being a tenacious investigator who’s gone above and beyond to solve crimes. In 2018, he made 32 DWI arrests, 249 traffic stops, and 220 criminal arrests.

In one example, he turned an ordinary traffic stop into the arrest of four members of the MS-13 gang who turned out to have been involved in a stabbing the night before and discovered a female juvenile runaway with the group.

In addition to having his name on a plaque at the police station, Brandolino was presented with an award and gift certificate from the Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club.