Comments at Arlington County Board Meeting, January 24, 2026.
I’ve opposed the Defund the Police movement since 2020 for one simple reason. I myself have had no issues with Arlington County Police (ACPD), since locating here 22 years ago. That’s a remarkable admission coming from an outspoken critic of County government. Yet a recent incident made me a committed ACPD booster.
On January 2 around dusk I took a spin on my bike over the I-66 bridge on Patrick Henry Drive onto the Four Mile Run trail. When I got home an hour later I discovered that the cellphone in my jacket pocket was gone. A Samsung app gave its approximate location near Patrick Henry and North 11th Street, but it was too dark to search for it.
On advice of a neighbor at Westover Walgreen’s, I called ACPD’s non-emergency number on her phone. Within 15 minutes Officer J. Shorter, who identified himself as a six month recruit, arrived at my door. He asked me a few questions about the phone and said: “I am 98 percent certain I have it.” An hour earlier a neighborhood youth found it near Westover Baptist Church and turned it over to the officer, who put it into evidence at police headquarters.
Officer Shorter drove me to headquarters, got the phone out of storage, verified that I was the owner, returned it to me and drove me home. On our way through Clarendon he alerted another driver that her headlights were out and continued on. The driver turned on her headlights, clearly relieved that she wasn’t going to get cited. IMO Officer Shorter is a Good Samaritan and a good cop, and much of the credit goes to ACPD.