Police focused on gangs, robberies, and prostitution this summer

The crimes in Mason District that have gotten the most
attention from the police this summer include gang activity, robbery, and
prostitution, reports Capt. David Smith, commander of the Mason Police District.

Smith and 2nd Lt. J.M. Flynn, chief of the Criminal Investigations
Section at the Mason station, gave an update on the local crime situation at the station’s Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting Sept. 2.

Smith didn’t have any new information about the homicide in
the Culmore area of Bailey’s Crossroads early Monday morning, other than to say
police officers are knocking on doors and collecting information. It could have
been related to robbery or a domestic conflict, as well as gangs, he said.  

According to Flynn, the biggest complaint this summer was about
gang graffiti. While MS-13 is still active, much of the local gang activity is
community-based, focusing on street robberies and drugs, with gang members
using graffiti to mark their territory, mostly in Culmore and at the Fairmont Gardens apartments in Annandale. 

The station’s anti-gang initiative – aimed at having patrol
officers in the neighborhoods gathering
intelligence and getting to know gang members – is paying off. There haven’t been
many significant gang incidents recently, Flynn said, and having those contacts is
helpful when there is a crime.   

Police officers can seek permission to pat down an
individual who appears suspicious – by wearing gang colors, for example, or having a
history of gang affiliation and weapons possession, or if they “present themselves in a certain way,” Flynn said. If the individual refuses, the officer can do a search if necessary.

Prostitution mostly occurs in motels, now that brothels
operating in apartments in the Culmore area have been pretty much been shut
down, he said. In most cases, prostitution is run by small-time pimps from
New York catering to the local Hispanic population and doesn’t appear to be
gang related.

The armed robberies of pedestrians late at night were
“opportunity crimes,” Flynn said. The victims were usually intoxicated, and those
crimes don’t seem to be related, because the descriptions given by victims have
been different. “We’re not seeing a
major uptick” in these kinds of crimes, he said.

Flynn recounted several success stories: In July, police
arrested a suspect from Maryland in the armed robberies at four gas stations in
the Lincolnia area. During a stakeout, police saw a suspicious car circling a
gas station, stopped the driver for an unrelated reason, and found evidence tying the suspect to the robberies. 

The airbag thefts that were common last year have pretty
much stopped, Flynn said, since the arrest of the leader of a crew that was
stealing airbags and other car parts and fencing them in Maryland. Only four
cars, all at the Lakeside Village Apartments in Falls Church, were hit this
summer. Also, he noted, complaints about a “chronic peeper” who was spying on
women in the locker room of an Arlington gym have stopped since an arrest was
made.  

Many of the concerns brought up by the public at the CAC meeting
were about speeding and parking problems. With the school year underway,
Smith said he’ll be focusing on pedestrian enforcement, including encouraging
people to use crosswalks. Also, he noted, “My goal going forward is to ramp up
DWI enforcement.”