Alexandria Police Making Preparations for Inauguration Week

Alexandria Police are making preparations in case the unrest from the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden spills into the city.

Last night, Police Chief Michael L. Brown updated City Council on plans to keep Alexandria safe during inauguration week. Brown said that the siege on the Capitol on Jan. 6 was a tragic event where five people lost their lives, and that he has participated in conversations with his regional counterparts and the assistant director of the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“We have a civil demonstration unit, which we’re prepared to deploy if we need to,” Brown said. “But let me assure you at this point we have nothing to suggest that there’s going to be anything in the city.”

Brown anticipates activity in the city this weekend, and has canceled training and leave for his officers during inauguration week, in addition to putting detectives in uniform.

“There’s a lot that’s going on,” Brown said. ‘It will change a lot over the next 48 hours. We anticipate that there may be some activity this weekend, and if we do we’ll certainly share with the community to the extent that they can be prepared.”

A 6 p.m. curfew was imposed on Alexandria and Arlington by the governor on Jan. 6 at the request of the jurisdictions, a move which Mayor Justin Wilson said led to a quiet night in Alexandria. Some protestors were staying in hotels in Alexandria, and were on the police department’s radar.

“We also thank the governor’s office for for quickly reacting on Wednesday on our request, in partnership with, with our friends at Arlington County,” Wilson said. “They moved very quickly to react and adjust and support the concerns that we had in Alexandra and Arlington, and I think it enabled a very quiet evening in both jurisdictions.”

Brown said that in case incidents do occur in the city and mutual aid is needed that law enforcement resources will be shared with Alexandria.

“We have been receiving intelligence information and it’s been changing rapidly, certainly in the last 24 to 36 hours,” Brown said.