On May 4, the BSCL will meet to conduct our annual election of officers.

Minutes

President Chris Kupczyk called the meeting to order at 7:30pm.

Elections:

The following slate was elected by acclamation:

• President: Chris Siple
• Vice President: Gary Mason
• Treasurer: Jennifer Lis
• Joanne Rodewald: Membership Secretary
• Board Member: Barbara Clemens
• We still need a Recording Secretary. Please email chris@bscl.org (now Chris Siple) to volunteer.

Program

Captain Adrienne Quigley, Commander of Arlington's Third Police District, briefed us on recent crime reports in our neighborhood, with three breakins in Barcroft and one apparently related one in Alcova. The police have leads and are actively pursuing the case. Detective Echenique from the Criminal Investigations Section spoke and said this is a large investigation, and the case is currently his number one priority. As always, both officers urged neighbors to call the police non-emergency number at 703-558-2222 if they see anything that just does not look right.

Home surveillance cameras are proving very useful for capturing video of suspects in cases now. An inexpensive camera pointed at your door can provide good evidence. Local jurisdictions cooperate in identifying suspects. If you have a garage door, be careful about closing it at night, make sure the remote control is not easily found in your car out on the street, and keep the door from the garage to the house locked.

Fraud is Arlington's biggest crime problem. Do not let anyone who knocks on your door do work on your home, and call 703-558-2222 and report them if they don't have an Arlington solicitor's permit. Watch gas pumps for "skimmer" units attached to them that record credit cards. (Some pumps now have a seal to indicate that.) Some scams now use your Facebook info, particularly anything indicating you are out of town on vacation. Checks are being stolen from mail slots where outgoing utility bill payments are left for the mailman and "washed," then rewritten for very large amounts to the fraud perpetrator. Captain Quigley recommends use of shredders for personal documents.  Packages are being stolen after delivery to your door.

You can have a free home security survey by Lt. Heather Hurlock of the ACPD, who will advise on securing basement windows, upgrading doors, improving locks, trimming shrubs so that all access points are visible to neighbors, night lighting and other steps to improve your security. Email Captain Quigley at aquigley@arlingtonva.us or Lt. Hurlock at hhurlock@arlingtonva.us.

You can email Captain Quigley if you want to be on the email list for her monthly Third District crime report. The County has a daily crime report as well that you can sign up for at https://newsroom.arlingtonva.us/category/daily-crime-report/  The meeting adjourned at 8:45pm.

Respectfully submitted
Randy Swart   randy@bscl.org