Arlington Board Rejects Cuts to Law Enforcement, Fire Department

Arlington's community policing effort will continue unhindered.

Elected officials rejected a number of proposed cuts this week as they finalized Arlington County's $1.1 billion budget for next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The Arlington County Board formally approved the spending plan Saturday morning.

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The final budget includes nearly $904,000 to keep the Arlington County Police Department's roster intact, along with another $403,000 to keep three floating firefighters on the payroll to fill in the gaps when others are out sick, on vacation or in training. And it gives an extra $80,000 to the Arlington County Sheriff's Office for overtime pay, an effort to reduce the number of hours the jail is locked down.

"This keeps us in a good place," Police Chief Doug Scott told Patch this week. "This will allow us to keep it the way it is, which I think is best for the community."

Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan had proposed the gradual reduction of seven community police officers earlier this year.

Such officers attend civic association meetings and provide neighborhood crime and safety information. They help keep an eye on Arlington's trails, attend parades and picnics and other community events and help identify crime trends as they develop.

Some civic associations weren't happy with the idea, contacting Scott and county board members directly. Neighborhood leaders like being able to have direct contact with a police captain, Scott said. Police divide the county into three districts, and each has its own captain.

"They like the arrangement we have now," Scott told Patch.

The county board also restored Donnellan's proposed elimination of three roving firefighters, allowing the Fire Department to retain the flexibility it has to address temporary staffing needs.

The extra overtime money board members approved for the Sheriff's Office is an effort to keep a lid on the escalating amount of time the county jail operates under lockdown.

The jail must be locked down when the number of available officers falls below a certain threshold. The jail is projected to have been locked down 83 percent of the time during the current fiscal year.

The Arlington County Detention Center was built to be a direct supervision jail — one that teaches inmates self-sufficiency and life skills in order to reduce recidivism — but those programs are canceled whenever the jail is under lockdown.

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