Serious crimes remain on the rise in Arlington as the Arlington County Police Department continues to seek more officers.
Simple assaults increased in 2023 for the fourth year in a row, while narcotics offenses surged 19% compared to the previous year, Chief Andy Penn told the Arlington County Board at a budget work session on Thursday. Every major category of offenses — crimes against persons, property and society — went up last year, he said.
Though the police department’s staffing increased by four officers between the start of the year and the fourth quarter of 2023, it remains well below its target levels.
“With our reduced staff numbers, we’ve found it is critical for us to focus our efforts on being efficient and smart with how we deploy to resources we have,” Penn said.
Arlington police seized 134 firearms last year, 15 of which were ghost guns. Despite these numbers, aggravated assaults declined by over 10%.
The latest crime numbers are preliminary but will be “very close” to official stats set to be released in a few weeks, the chief said. Despite the continued uptick in crime, he noted that “Arlington remains a very safe place to live.”
When it comes to hiring and retaining officers, however, progress remains slow.
Following increased investment in advertising and outreach, plus sign-on bonuses of up to $25,000, the police department received more applications in 2023 than it did in 2022 — 1,222 compared to 880. Of these, however, the agency hired fewer officers: 28 compared to 36.
Low staffing levels caused ACPD to scale back some of its services in 2022. But even with these changes, officers worked 10,591 overtime hours in 2023, 16.6% more than they did the year before.
“It’s clear that this has not been sustainable,” Penn said. “It’s not the long-term solution. But our staff have been great in helping us out and doing this as we get through this time.”
Arlington’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposes a 2% increase to police department expenditures. The Arlington Coalition of Police has argued that that number should be substantially higher in order to fund a greater pay increase within the department.
The police union blames the agency’s ongoing staffing issues — including over 70 current vacancies — on its relatively low wages.
Board members did not direct county staff to make any changes to the police department’s proposed budget.