Police union: Crime is up in Arlington and officers are being attacked

Arlington’s police union is calling for better pay following increases in some violent crimes and two incidents where suspects allegedly fought police.

As of last week, the Arlington County Police Department has 61 vacancies or a 16.2% vacancy rate, Randall Mason, president of the Arlington Coalition of Police, told ARLnow.

Meanwhile, reported crimes against people, a large category of various types of offenses that include violent crime, have increased in recent years, from 1,672 in 2021 to 2,108 in 2023.

“The real narrative here is: Crime is up, and ACPD staffing is down,” the police union wrote in a social media post .

The union spotlighted two reported thefts in recent months — one near Ballston and one in Pentagon City — that escalated when suspects allegedly grabbed police officers’ weapons while resisting arrest.

In the first case , which took place in August, a 50-year-old man is accused of struggling with a police officer following a shoplifting incident that turned into a foot chase. That suspect is accused of grabbing the officer’s firearm and firing one shot into the air before being subdued.

The second incident , which happened last week, also started out as an alleged theft. A 37-year-old woman reportedly tried to flee with the merchandise — and when an officer intervened, police said she tried to grab the officer’s gun before successfully taking possession of her knife.

The officer regained control of the knife but suffered a hand laceration in the process, according to a crime report and scanner traffic.

“Each of these headlines were just seconds/inches away from reading ‘officer shot and killed by shoplifting suspect’ [or] ‘Officer stabbed while apprehending robbery suspect,'” ACOP wrote.

Mason noted that ACPD’s staffing has improved slightly over the past few months, with the vacancy rate decreasing from 19.1% in February.

He acknowledged “some major changes” in the police department’s approach to recruiting in recent years, including a new $25,000 sign-on bonus for lateral transfers. But he said attempts to attract officers from neighboring Fairfax County have been largely unsuccessful.

Officers at the Fairfax County Police Department have a higher starting salary in Fiscal Year 2025 — $69,074 compared to $68,504 in Arlington — and that department’s pay scale is only nine years long, compared to 20 years in Arlington, which means a quicker ascent to higher pay.

“By year 10, a Fairfax County officer is making almost $20,000 more than an Arlington County officer,” Mason said.

As in D.C. and other localities with high officer vacancy rates, this has resulted in widespread overtime work.

“There’s so much overtime available that we will have at least one officer make over $400,000 this year,” the union president said. “That’s excessive; it shouldn’t be able to happen. Yet here we are due to our staffing numbers. Without that officer and many others like him, we wouldn’t be able to meet our shift minimum numbers.”

The police union was unsuccessful in lobbying for a pay increase during this year’s county budget talks, but officers received a one-time bonus of $2,750.

Meanwhile, rates of many — but not all — crimes have continued to rise.

Arlington police have logged 10,783 offenses this year compared to 8,181 this time last year, according to ACPD’s crime data hub . Crimes against people have risen from 1,218 to 1,506, while property crimes have increased from 4,942 to 6,706.

In terms of prosecution, both suspects accused of assaulting police currently face numerous charges, according to online court records.

The suspect in the August incident faces seven charges, including disarming a law enforcement officer and attempted malicious bodily injury of a law enforcement officer.

Last week’s suspect, meanwhile, has been charged with eight counts — including disarming and attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer, as well as assaulting a police officer.