Chair: John Lincoski
chair.pst@mvcca.org

Committee Co-Chair: Vacant
MVCCA Co-Chair Liaison: Judy Harbeck
co.chair2@mvcca.org

The Committee policy is to meet at 7:00 PM on the first Tuesday of each month either virtually or in-person at the Mount Vernon Government Center. NOTE: Beginning in March 2025, The Public Safety Committee will be meeting jointly with the Transportation Committee. Meeting agenda and invitation information will be emailed by the chairperson.

Next Meeting

Public Safety Committee Meeting Cancelled – Will Meet with Transportation Committee on 14 April
April 1 @ 7:00 pm at Zoom Meeting

Our Mission

The Public Safety Committee is an interface for information flow between the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens’ Associations and Fairfax County public safety organizations. The Public Safety Committee also advocates for the security and safety needs of the residents of the Mount Vernon District from the Fairfax County Police Department, the Fire and Rescue Department, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Emergency Management Office.

Goals and Work PlansRecent MeetingsReferencesLinks

Goals and Work Plans

Public Safety Committee Work Plan 3 June 21

Recent Meetings

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MEETING DATE	SUMMARY
July 1, 2021	FCPD Public information Tools FCPD Mt. Vernon District Crime Prevention Unit (Presentation) Help Us Help You: Guide to 9-1-1 Emergency Services
June 3, 2021	The committee met via Zoom at 7:30 pm on June 3, 2021. In addition to the Chairman, Public Safety committee attendees were: Civic Association of Hollin Hills, Mason Hill Citizen’s Association, Mount Vernon Civic Association, Mount Vernon Manor Citizens Association, Potomac Valley River Bend, Sulgrave Manor Civic Association, and the Wellington Civic Association. The committee reviewed and approved a joint resolution with the Transportation committee to address the lack of enforcement action recommendations in the April report on the safety of the GW Memorial Parkway. There was a discussion on a proposal for a resolution to continue support of undergrounding utilities to eliminate the recurring safety hazard created when vehicles strike utility poles on Route 1 and bring down power lines. The committee felt more research and analysis was necessary. Members were asked to comment on their views of the committee Work Plan for the past year and content of the plan for next year. The new Work Plan for the coming year is posted on the MVCCA PS web site. The new Work Plan continues work on a number of issues related to police reform while maintaining an emphasis on briefings from all public safety organizations to maintain currency on their operations.
May 6, 2021	Attended the Fairfax County Police Civilian Review Panel meeting. See https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/policecivilianreviewpanel/about-us.
April 5, 2021	Joint Meeting with the Transportation Committee about the completed safety study for the southern portion of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. See the Transportation Committee page for a recording of the meeting.
March 4, 2021	Office of Emergency Management Overview
February 4, 2021	Pedestrian Safety Briefing by VDOT and FCDOT Bus Rapid Transit Project Branding Bus Rapid Transit Newsletter
January 7, 2021	Assistant Chief Knerr briefed on the composition, operation and performance metrics of the Fire and Rescue department. There are currently about 1,500 personnel deployed in six battalions, each with 5 to 6 stations, for a total of 38 stations across the county. Each station has at least one engine (pumper) and ambulance. There are a total of 38 engines, 42 ambulances, 14 ladder trucks, 8 rescue (special equipment) units, and one boat. They expect to go to 8 battalions in the near future. They use the standards in NFPA 1710, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments, to monitor and benchmark their operating metrics. The annual Standards of Cover report (go to https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fire-ems/ and see link under Department Resources) provides a detailed description of the department’s organization, finances, risk assessment methodology, resource deployment, and performance analysis. The Standards of Cover report provides a detailed description of operations in each of the 38 Service Demand Areas that correspond to each of the 38 stations. The data for Demand Area 409 (Mount Vernon station) begins on page 174, Demand Area 411 (Penn Daw station) begins on page 179, and Demand Area 424 (Woodlawn station) begins on page 193. Fairfax County has a daily minimum staffing of 356 full time positions that staff 128 pieces of rolling stock to provide primary first response to the community. An additional 62 pieces of specialty apparatus are strategically positioned based on risk or regional deployment. In 2019, FCFRD met or exceeded benchmark performance standards 97% of the time while responding to 12,500 incidents. Response times for EMS services is just under 5 minutes and response times for fire is just under 6 minutes. Fairfax County utilizes Intergraph Corporation’s Computer Aided Dispatching System (I/CAD) to address everything from call handling and dispatching to remote access and mobile data. When Computer Aided Dispatch is functional, units are dispatched based on their actual vehicle location via a GPS monitoring device. Recruiting is strong -recently there have been about 4,000 applicants/year resulting in 50 to 100 hires. Retention is good with compensation remaining competitive. Recent COVID needs have made it challenging to keep medics on staff. FCFRD personnel in treatment/quarantine for COVID at any given time is minimal, about 3% of the force. The department works with development/construction projects to ensure fire and emergency operations are built in or accommodated. The new construction project at Penn Daw was discussed. MVCCA requested that FCFRD representatives at planning meetings continue to participate and articulate any needs or concerns.
December 3, 2020	The committee met via Zoom at 7:30 pm on December 3, 2020. Attendees were: Belle View Condominium, Collingwood on the Potomac, Hollin Hills, Mason Hill, Montebello, Mount Vernon Civic, Mount Vernon Manor, Potomac Valley River Bend, Riverside Estates, Sulgrave Manor, and Wellington Civic. Guests in attendance were Captain Brian Ruck, Commander of the Mount Vernon Police Station, and Lieutenant Fred Chambers, Assistant Commander of the Mount Vernon Police Station. After introductions, Capt Ruck and Lt Chambers remarked that the Mount Vernon police station is the busiest in the county. However, staffing continues to be a challenge in the current environment where there is considerable risk of COVID exposure, a lot of anti-police sentiment, and strong competition for recruits from a multitude of other law enforcement and security entities in the area. Although FCPD only has jurisdiction to enforce criminal violations on the GW Parkway, the continuing staffing shortage means that FCPD can’t increase support to the National Park Service for policing on the parkway. The NPS also has staffing issues, and the result is a lack of police presence and enforcement. Staffing problems are a result of lack of growth – little change in end-strength while requirements have grown in number and complexity. Despite the challenges, the Mount Vernon police district staff has developed a reputation as the best in the county. COVID has made a significant impact on policing. Many new ways of doing business have been identified and put into practice – fewer contacts but higher police visibility. They now have an Infectious Disease Response Team (IDRT) to deal with contaminated crime scenes. Many individuals have been reassigned from functions with close contact to more protected, but still effective, functions. There are currently 70 FCPD members in quarantine, not a significant percentage of the force. Jury trials are getting backed up because of the pandemic; however, traffic citations are down as the roads are less traveled. We discussed shootings, gang activity, burglaries, traffic, and parking citations. You can contact the Mount Vernon station to report potentially criminal activity at any of the numbers/email addresses on their web page https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/district/mountvernon. If you want to know why the Fairfax County helicopter is flying overhead, go to the “Find Out Why the Helicopter Was Flying Over My House” link on the FCPD web page. There is a new data portal “Open Police Data Initiative” (https://policedata-fcpdgis.hub.arcgis.com/) coming to the FCPD Chief’s web page https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/chief. Much effort continues in de-escalation training, establishing fair pay and benefits, and creating retention enhancements. The new Virginia legislation on pretextual policing is effective in February. It will curb police ability to make stops for broken lights, loud mufflers, and other similar pretexts.
NOVEMBER 5, 2020	Attending associations were: Collingwood on the Potomac, Hollin Hills, Mason Hill, Mount Vernon Civic, Potomac Valley River Bend, Riverside Estates, Sulgrave Manor, and Wellington Civic. The central issue of the meeting covered the need to develop and populate a work plan per Section 2, Article XI of the Policy and Procedures Manual. The discussion identified several likely topics for which to develop annual goals. The topics include pedestrian safety on Route 1, speeding on neighborhood streets, police reform, police morale, police staffing/pay/retention, status and needs briefings from police and fire and rescue. These topics will continue to be expanded, discussed and refined at subsequent meetings in order to define specific goals and timelines for completion of resolutions for action