Videos highlight Mason police officers
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis has posted two videos highlighting the lifesaving work of Mason District police officers.
The first two Chief’s Spotlight videos use footage from the officers’ body cameras to show what happens when they confronted people in crisis.
One video shows how officers McGraw and Miller used their basic medical training and TECC (tactical emergency casualty care) kit to help a stabbing victim at an apartment complex on Willston Drive in Seven Corners. The man was in his truck with a significant stab wound to his abdomen.
McGraw and Miller administered first aid until fire and rescue personnel arrived. Meanwhile, other police officers searched the area and found the suspect hiding in the woods nearby. He was charged with two counts of malicious wounding.
The other video follows MPO Castillon as he is dispatched to the parking garage at Fairfax Hospital to help a man suffering from a mental health crisis.
As the man sat on a ledge holding two knives, Castillon spent several minutes calmly trying to get him to talk. Eventually, the man put down one of the knives, and the officer removed him from the ledge and took him to the Crisis Response Center in Merrifield.
Castillon’s patience “undoubtedly prevented a tragic outcome,” Davis says. “Empathy and quick thinking are skills our police officers rely on to keep themselves and our community safe.”
15 responses to “Videos highlight Mason police officers”
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I’ve always thought that the police should do more of this. They (rightfully) get called on the carpet when they don’t do things right, but there are so many times they end saving lives. We forget that when terrorists crashed planes into the twin towers, it was police and firefighters that ran INTO the towers to get people out.
Chris Rock did a sketch on how people would say there was just “bad apples” in the police, and how there can’t be any bad apples because police are like pilots – you can’t have a bad apple pilot who decides instead of landing, I’m going to crash into a mountain today… sorry folks! But on the flip side of that, there are the heroic pilots that land their plane after dual bird strikes, like captain sully.
We need to get balance back in our view of our police. Sure, call out bad behavior, but also call out the heroism.
My long winded way of saying I appreciate this article, while not dissing reform efforts.
What a spineless post. I do support police and do not support reform efforts. Reform efforts are the reason crime is skyrocketing. 90%+ of accusations against police are completely baseless. Ironically the increased crime has disparately affected the very communities “reform” was supposed to help. I don’t care much if crime skyrockets because it doesn’t impact me. It’s somewhat of a guilty pleasure to watch my “socially conscious” neighbors aghast at rising crime. I’ll never understand how such a large percentage of educated, grown adults could have such little common sense.
“I don’t care much if crime skyrockets because it doesn’t impact me.”
If this isn’t the summation of a deep sickness amongst us, I don’t know what is.
It’s not sickness. It’s making a decision to not care about things you can’t control. He’s saying you all can defund the police and he doesnt care because he can handle himself. Most who want police defunded have never even been in a fight and are walking targets. Police don’t protect the strong, they protect the weak, because criminals target the weak. And most of the weak want to crucify the police. So the police don’t care as much and enforcement decreases. Penalties decrease. So crime increases because you’ve emboldened the losers and cowards that pick off the weak. And you look around and wonder where civility has gone. No one seems as helpful or supportive. That’s because they are mad at the weak for tearing down what the strong have built. And they’ll let you cook in your own grease to learn your lesson, since that’s what you keep insisting on anyway. Good luck out there 😉
How is this at all about weak versus strong? That is a very fascist way of looking at things.
If anything this statement further proves what I am saying. It’s fantastical, full of assumptions and conjecture.
Without taking a position on police reform, I have to say “Police don’t protect the strong, they protect the weak” is the most preposterous thing I’ve read today. Police’s number one job is property protection, and those with more property get more protection. Even when they are stopping/preventing crimes against life they are inarguably providing more value to the landowners and rentseekers for whom low crime translates into gain.
The police who patrol Culmore are unquestionably protecting Lake Barcroft residents and their money and their properties more than they are the residents of Culmore.
“Police’s number one job is property protection“ is the most preposterous thing I’ve read today. Where is that stated, and how many cops do you know. Literally L-O-L’d!
https://www.bestplaces.net/crime/county/virginia/fairfax
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/sites/police/files/assets/images/helpfulinfo/crime%20in%20our%20county/crime%20statistics/fcpd%20annual%20statistical%20report%202019-2020.pdf
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/202714/number-of-committed-crimes-in-the-us-by-type-of-crime/
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/tables/table-1
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/topic-pages/tables/table-2
It’s just a fact. Most Cops aren’t out dealing with rapes and murders. Where is the shootout in Fairfax County today?
Frequency of property crime does not mean property crime is their “number 1 job.” That’s like saying someone with 100 Pennie’s has more money than someone with a $100 bill. A major crime requires much more time and resources than a simple vandalism. We should be more careful with our verbiage imho.
You are right, we should be more careful with words, and a homicide or armed robbery does take more time than a call for some graffiti.
Here is an article, part of which attempts to quantifies that:
https://www.vox.com/2020/7/31/21334190/what-police-do-defund-abolish-police-reform-training
The rest of the article is obviously antagonistic to the status quo, so if your or whoever’s mind is made up in regards to the need or lack-of-need for police reform, here is your trigger warning.
Interesting Vox article. Though I wouldn’t call Vox agnostic by any stretch. And they do a lot of pontificating about “bias” against black people by white officers, when the truth is that inner cities have higher rates of crime, and blacks commit the crimes. Because white police arrest black criminals does not, in itself, make the officers biased. But that is the article’s conclusion. Also, a cop trying to be a social worker is less than ideal. A social worker showing up to an active crime scene is going to lead to dead social workers.
It’s easy to say that we need more policing when crime gets worse. It’s the simplest, most intuitive solution. However there are unintended consequences to this type of action. The relationship between police presence and crime is not that straightforward.
Perhaps we should consider why crime is increasing in the first place? There are an increasing number of desperate people. People with little to lose and a lot to gain. I know this proposes a more difficult solution than bolstering police department budgets but it stands to provide an overall better solution for everyone involved.
It’s easy to say that we need more policing when crime gets worse. It’s the simplest, most intuitive solution. However there are unintended consequences to this type of action. The relationship between police presence and crime is not that straightforward.
Perhaps we should consider why crime is increasing in the first place? There are an increasing number of desperate people. People with little to lose and a lot to gain. I know this proposes a more difficult solution than bolstering police department budgets but it stands to provide an overall better solution for everyone involved.
Don’t print trillions of fiat money. Go to church. Pay attention to your children. Do the right thing. Don’t celebrate subcultures that glorify violence and misogyny. Support the police…..
Police handled both situations well. Their job is often dangerous and thankless as the above comments show. Well done police officers. Thank you.