Franconia CAC Meeting Highlights Station's Accomplishments

The Franconia Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) held its first meeting of the new year and highlighted the station's accomplishments from December and more. Local residents spent the evening asking questions about local crime and praising the officer’s successful December programs. The Franconia District Station of the Fairfax County Police Department serves part of Annandale.

The meeting started off with police volunteer Fred Sanborn urging residents to think about donating to the Fairfax Foundation, a local non-profit that subsidizes police costs. Sanborn also sold 70th anniversary department calendars and requested that citizens consider donating their time to the organization.

“For example, donations would go to offsetting the veterinary costs of retired police dogs,” Sanborn said. “The most important thing is the relationship between the community and the officers. Ninety-nine percent of your money goes toward these causes, and how many organizations can you say that about?”

To thank the officers working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the CAC organized several holiday meals during their shifts. Everything from time and money to food and cooking was donated by generous local residents and the officers were extremely grateful.

“It was fun, it was great and the guys loved it,” CAC contact Sue Hotto said. “But they don’t get it, it’s a thank you. Thank you guys.”

The Safe December DWI initiative was also a huge success and featured eight officers specifically designated to traffic stops in major intersections. Out of the month’s 57 DWI arrests, 43 were made by the team who also issued 259 tickets, made 24 criminal arrests, ticketed 53 suspended drivers and more.

A new link on the Franconia District Station's website lets residents report traffic violations directly to an officer.

“We cut the middle man out and get right into action,” Captain Shawn Bennett said. “These tips go right to the traffic officer and get addressed by them.”

Several citizens then asked questions about crimes in the news and even more of them complimented the station’s quick response time. Most discussed was the December carjacking outside the Kingstowne Safeway at gunpoint.

“As a community I need to let you know about your safety, we’re really happy with our leads but I can’t share everything,” Bennett said in response to an update request. “We’re still classifying it as a carjacking and to date, we still don’t have the car recovered.”

A concerned citizen brought up the question of department budget concerns but Bennett was quick to reassure the CAC.

“We’re not facing layoffs at this point and that’ll be the last thing the chief does,” Bennett said. “We’re down to a point where we have to look at the specialist units. We will always protect and serve. The patrol officers will always be there.”

Several citizens went on to ask about pay raises and voice their sympathy for the officer’s lack of increases over the last few years. Fairfax County is still facing budget cuts that affect nearly every branch, department and service connected to the government.

“We have one of the lowest crime rates in the country for being next to a metropolitan city. It’s for a good reason and we’re not asking for a pay raise,” Bennett said. “We acknowledge the greater county level and will continue to do our jobs.”

Finally, Bennett was proud to announce that the winter food drive,  was a huge success. The Franconia Station filled their wagon four full times, collecting 6,000 pounds of non-perishable food and $1,200 in cash, which went to four local food pantries.

“We had people push entire buggies, full to the brim, out to us. The power of donation was incredible,” Bennett said “The best part was talking and interacting with so many people. They’d see our wagon and come back 15, 20, 30 minutes later with donations and come talk with us.”

Next month’s meeting will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 16 at the Lee District Building at 7:30 p.m.