Black Lives Matter | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published June 16, 2020 at 7:30AM

Special County Board Meeting Planned — On Thursday at 6 p.m., the Arlington County Board “will hold a special meeting for a listening session on racial justice, systemic racism and policing. The County Board special meeting will be conducted using electronic means.” [Arlington County]

County Commissions Still Mostly Inactive — “Faced with a growing rebellion over the lack of meetings by Arlington government advisory panels, County Board members and top staff on June 13 offered (slightly defensive) apologies – but not much of a roadmap forward. Board members were responding to a June 9 letter sent to them by 25 chairs of advisory groups, complaining that the local government has been lagging in re-starting meetings that largely have been on hold since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March.” [InsideNova]

News

Activists Take Demands for Police Reform to the County Board

By Vernon Miles

Published June 15, 2020 at 4:35PM

Arlington citizens and community activists flooded Saturday’s online County Board meeting with calls to reform the Arlington County Police Department.

At the start of the public hearing on June 13, County Board Chair Libby Garvey emphasized that the Board’s rules state there could only be one speaker on any given topic or stance, but that’s not now the public comment portion panned out as dozens of speakers rallied to argue against policies activists said were still deeply rooted in the County’s history of segregation.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 15, 2020 at 6:00AM

Black Lives Matter Protest Held Saturday — “As protests continue around the nation following the death of George Floyd, the Black Parents of Arlington group welcomed families and neighbors on Saturday for a special gathering and vigil for the man who died in police custody in Minneapolis in May. Over 100 people gathered at Drew Model Elementary School, some bringing signs while others wore shirts and face masks showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement.” [WUSA 9]

Dorsey Discusses ‘Defund’ Demands — “‘We’re getting a lot of letters with the ‘defund the police’ calls,’ says [County Board member Christian Dorsey, on the WAMU Politics Hour]. He says that over the past few years, the police budget has only risen slightly above inflation. He said he’d be open to cutting tactical weapons and gear.” [Twitter]

Schools

Student Petitions For APS Reform Garner Hundreds of Signatures

By Kalina Newman

Published June 11, 2020 at 2:00PM | Updated June 11, 2020 at 2:38PM

In the midst of an uptick of activism in Arlington, both current and former students of Arlington Public Schools are calling for reforms to the school system.

Sparsh Srivastava, a 2016 graduate from H-B Woodlawn, has gathered over 750 signatures on a Change.org petition launched earlier this week asking APS to offer a racial education elective course for high schoolers to take as a social studies credit.

News

Arlington NAACP Joins Calls to Equip Police With Body-Worn Cameras

By Vernon Miles

Published June 10, 2020 at 3:45PM

The Arlington branch of the NAACP has thrown its voice into the push for body-worn cameras to be implemented in the Arlington County Police Department.

A Change.org petition calling for Arlington County leadership to prioritize body-worn cameras sits at 2,409 of its 2,500 goal at the time of writing.

News

Sixty Years Ago, A Two-Week Civil Rights Battle Raged Across Arlington Eateries

By Vernon Miles

Published June 9, 2020 at 5:45PM | Updated June 12, 2020 at 4:04PM

(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) Arlingtonians are marching in the streets protesting for racial justice, but 60 years ago that fight took the form of sit-ins at Arlington lunch counters.

This day in 1960 marked the start of a series of demonstrations that remained peaceful despite harassment by local white students, police, and Neo-Nazis. The sit-ins went on for 13 days and were a pivotal moment in local civil rights history.

News

ACPD Budget Is Five Percent of County General Fund

By ARLnow.com

Published June 9, 2020 at 3:45PM | Updated September 23, 2020 at 11:09AM

Protests over the death of George Floyd and others killed at the hands of police have sparked a debate: should police budgets be cut and the money re-allocated to social services?

The “defund the police” movement has been a particularly hot topic on social media, where some proponents have shared charts showing police budgets in U.S. cities dwarfing other expenditures, including education. The charts are misleading, though, according to fact checks — while police budgets are indeed significant, they are smaller than expenditures on schools.

News

More Demonstrations Planned Today in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Published June 9, 2020 at 9:45AM

Following a week filled with marches and protests in Arlington, at least two more events are planned today.

One of the events is being organized by a pair of groups that largely serve the immigrant community. Another is being organized by four churches and a local civic association. Both events are being held to demand justice and to defend black lives.

News

ACPD Reports More Complaints, Increased Use of Force in 2019

By ARLnow.com

Published June 8, 2020 at 3:55PM | Updated June 8, 2020 at 4:39PM

Arlington County Police cars (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 4:35 p.m.) With the nation’s attention turned to police misconduct following the murder of George Floyd and the mass protests that have followed, a recent report details an uptrend in use of force by and complaints against the Arlington County Police Department.

The 2019 Annual Report from ACPD’s Office of Professional Responsibility says that complaints against police personnel rose 55% between 2018 and 2019, after falling for at least three straight years. Reported use of force incidents rose 72% during the same time period.

News

Photos: Thousands Participate in Saturday Marches in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Published June 7, 2020 at 1:45PM

Scenes from an NAACP and Black Lives Matter rally and march in Arlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

An estimated 3,300 people participated in a series of marches and protests in Arlington on Saturday, some later marching into D.C. and joining the more than 10,000 demonstrators in the District.

The protesters demanded justice for George Floyd and other victims of police violence. They also demanded policy changes and “meaningful and urgent reforms for racial justice.”

News

Arlington Police Talk Review Panels and Body Cameras

By Vernon Miles

Published June 5, 2020 at 3:15PM | Updated June 8, 2020 at 3:40PM

(Updated 6/8/20) Arlington County police leaders defended the department’s record in an interview with local Black Lives Matter organizer Yolande Kwinana‎ Thursday evening.

The ACPD brass discussed ways the department can make progress towards reform and some areas where the department has hit stumbling blocks during the course of the livestreamed discussion But the interview started with officials defending the shooting of Alfredo Rials-Torres and talking about areas the department can improve.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published June 5, 2020 at 7:30AM

Arlington Riot Cops Sued by ACLU — “Defendants John Poe 1 – 20 are officers of the Arlington County Police Department and other non-federal law enforcement officials who participated in the attack on peaceful protesters in and near Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020. They are sued in their individual capacities.” [Associated Press, Washington Post]

Washington Monument Struck By Lightning — As seen from the Crystal City / Pentagon City area, the Washington Monument took a direct lightning strike last night. [Twitter]