The Arlington Chamber of Commerce saluted public safety responses to this winter’s deadly mid-air crash over the Potomac River at an event last week.
A special Excellence Award was bestowed on the Arlington County Police Department, Arlington County Fire Department, Arlington County Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for their efforts at the scene of the crash.
Behind Arlington’s public safety employees and first responders are a pair of social workers supporting them through therapy and mental health services.
Donna Young and Leslie Geer joined the county as public safety wellness coordinators in 2023. Equipped with backgrounds in clinical social work, the duo spearheads employee wellness trainings, ensures agencies have adequate wellness policies and offers short-term therapy and mental health services.
A ceremony honoring fallen officers and a 5K race are coming to Arlington in coming days in honor of National Police Week.
The annual celebration of law enforcement officers, which often brings motorcades and busy hotels, is next week.
Decades of preparation were put to the test when Arlington’s public-safety community came face to face with chaos last December.
And that training and collaboration paid off when neither first-responders nor those in the general public suffered significant injuries from a house explosion following a tense standoff in the Bluemont neighborhood.
A dog with bomb-sniffing capabilities has joined the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office’s K9 team.
Weaver, a 1.5-year old Labrador retriever, is tasked with ensuring the safety of the Courthouse neighborhood and surrounding areas.
The Arlington County Board has announced plans to dismiss all current members of the Human Rights Commission.
Following months of mounting tension, the County Board plans to revise the commission’s charter and clarify members’ duties. Commissioners who wish to stay would have to reapply for the role “with an explicit understanding of the HRC’s clarified duties and responsibilities,” Board Chair Libby Garvey said in an email yesterday (Thursday).
There’s a new sheriff’s dog in town.
Hope, a yellow Labrador retriever puppy, will serve as a “wellness dog” in the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office’s K9 unit.
Arlington’s public safety drones are ready to fly, the county announced this morning.
The drones “are an additional tool for first responders and provide enhanced operational capability, safety, and situational awareness in support of public safety,” the county said.
The Arlington County Board and the Human Rights Commission are at odds over whether commissioners had the right to request an investigation into possible human and civil rights violations at the county jail.
Earlier this month, the commission sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, voicing concerns over reports that inmates at the jail lack adequate healthcare, a situation they argue could put them “at risk of death and severe harm.” This follows up on letters to the County Sheriff’s Office and the DOJ from the Arlington branch of the NAACP and its national organization, asking for an investigation after hearing from former and current inmates.
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The Arlington County Sheriff’s Office is facing mounting pressure from personnel, inmates and the NAACP to address worsening conditions at the county jail.
A 55-year-old inmate has died in the Arlington County jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
This is the second death the detention facility has logged this year, after 73-year-old Abonesh Woldegeorges, booked on trespassing charges, was found dead in her cell this August.
Two Arlington County Sheriff’s Office deputies prevented a near-fatal opioid overdose in the lobby of the county courthouse yesterday morning.
The individual, a member of the public and not an inmate, was found lying on the ground in the courthouse lobby at approximately 8:30 a.m. Thursday, showing signs of a severe overdose.
