Basically, the officers of the Sully District Police Station are successful at what they do and things should only get better from here. That was the message presented during February’s Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting.
For example, Todd Kinkead, Sully’s Criminal Investigations Section supervisor, explained what his unit does — and how well it does it. “I have four detectives total,” he said. “And we had 425 assigned cases last year and helped other offices with their cases, too.”
All burglaries receive a detective. And of last year’s 111 burglaries, Sully’s closure rate was 21 percent, compared to the national average of just 12.4 percent solved.
“We also investigate the serious grand larcenies, and we have domestic-violence and crime-scene detectives, too,” said Kinkead. “And it takes a lot of time to do these investigations.” So, he told the residents at the meeting, “If you see something, say something; that’s the biggest solvability factor. For example, when car windows here were getting shot out last year with BB guns, someone caught the people in the act [and contacted us], and that led to our solving 168 cases.”
He said the vast majority of burglaries here are by teens, ages 14 and 15. “We have a very small staff to deal with a large caseload,” said Kinkead. “But we take all these cases seriously and want to do the best we can for you all.”
“We live in one of the safest communities in Fairfax County,” said Capt. Bob Blakley, the station commander. “And I’ve maintained an effective dialogue with the various neighborhoods to help them solve their problems.”
Discussing the station’s 2015 plans and initiatives, he said, “We want to revitalize our community engagement through CAC. We want to grow the CAC so we’ll be even more effective in the district.”
He also plans to increase squad-level preparedness through station and division training. And along with it, he intends to reduce local crime via squad-initiated activities.
“Each squad will propose, develop and implement its own enforcement initiative supporting the overall mission of the station,” said Blakley. “We’ll be tapping into each squad’s expertise to better address crime. We also hope to increase the officers’ morale by affording them a greater say in the decision-making process.”
He also assured the residents that “Everyone is here to help” and asked them to “please reach out to us.”
“I’m very proud of this police department,” continued Blakley. “It’s an agency with high integrity and character and officers who can be trusted and who will police your community honestly. We set the bar high to keep your community safe.”