Earlier today, the Alexandria Police Foundation announced the passing of one of the city’s retired police dogs.
According to the police foundation, a non-profit that helps care for retired police dogs among other services to Alexandria police, police K-9 Rocco worked with the Alexandria Police Department from 2011 to his retirement along with his handler Officer Wuckovich in 2018.
A suspect has been arrested after allegedly crashing his car headfirst into the Verizon store near Potomac Yard on March 22.
Police did not identify the suspect, but said in a tweet that he was arrested in North Carolina. Police also did not say what he was charged with or when he was arrested.
Arlington Approves Agreement with Alexandria To Dredge Four Mile Run — “The dredging — which will remove built-up sediment and debris from the bottom of the waterway — is expected to cost about $3.6 million, with each jurisdiction paying about $1.8 million. The project is expected to get under way in the late summer or early fall, and will take approximately four months, Aileen Winquist of Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services tells ARLnow.” [ARLnow]
Timothy Guy Named Bishop Ireton High School Principal — “Being a part of the Bishop Ireton community as a teacher has been a true blessing, and I am delighted to be selected as the next principal.” [Zebra]
Three men were tied up and robbed last Friday (March 19) evening in the West End.
Alexandria Police reported to the 5000 block of Seminary Road in response to a robbery at gunpoint, and found three men tied up. The men had been robbed, one of their cars was stolen and one of them suffered a non-life-threatening injury.
The city is gradually ironing out the details for what could become a police review board that reshapes some of the community engagement with local law enforcement.
The proposed Community Policing Review Board will be a “civilian body may receive, investigate and issue findings on complaints from civilians regarding conduct of law-enforcement officers and civilian employees of a law enforcement agency serving under local authority,” according to the city website.
What a week in Alexandria.
Our top story this week was on a plan to install hanging gardens in the Carlyle neighborhood.
In a major reversal, Alexandria’s unions are pleased with the direction City Council took on establishing a collective bargaining ordinance at its meeting on Wednesday night.
Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker introduced amendments to the city’s manager’s proposed plan that expanded the scope of bargaining.
The coronavirus pandemic has meant less traffic on Alexandria roadways, fewer accidents and collisions, although there is a noted increase in the number of reported reckless driving incidents.
There was a 67% increase in reckless driving tickets issued by the Alexandria Police Department in 2020 over 2019. There were 184 reckless driving tickets issued in 2019 and 307 in 2020. With 98 incidents so far this year, the city is on track to exceed last year’s number. However, APD started doing eCitations in late May 2019, and as such the 2019 Reckless Driving ticket numbers are incomplete. All other tickets before that point were filled out manually, skewing the numbers as they were not broken up by citation type.
A 26-year-old man was shot in the leg in the 200 block of W. Glebe Road in Arlandria on Wednesday night.
The incident, characterized as a felonious assault, occurred at around 11:30 p.m., and was reported by Alexandria police just after midnight via Twitter.
An 18-year-old Fairfax County man is under investigation for firing gunshots in the West End, and soon faces a series of court appearances on gun-and-driving-related charges.
At around 11 p.m. on November 27, gunfire was heard coming from the front-facing front floor balcony of a home in the 5400 block of Richenbacher Avenue, which is near Holmes Run and about a mile away from Inova Alexandria Hospital.
Animal Welfare League gets 50 cats from Texas shelters — “Among the lingering effects of the winter outages is the strain on animal shelters. According to AWLA, the Texas shelters are seeing a surge in surrendered pets. The animals come from eight animal shelters in Texas. By transferring animals to Virginia, these shelters can better address the continued needs of homeless animals.” [Patch]
School Board public hearing on renaming of T.C. Williams High School and Matthew Maury Elementary School on March 18 — “There will be a School Board Public Hearing on March 18 at 5pm, where community members have their final opportunity to sign up to speak or submit comments about the renaming of schools.” [Twitter]
