Slide Show: Residents Take to Streets for National Night Out

By Marty van Duyne
For PotomacLocal.com

Falmouth, Va. — McGruff the Crime Dog joined Sheriff Charlie Jett and Deputy Darrell English for National Night Out at several active adult communities.

The trio began the evening at the Falls Run community clubhouse where Jett thanked the standing room only crowd for their 8 years of support.

Slide show photo by: Mary Davidson

Officials Praise Seniors

The Sheriff lauded residents for their efforts in support of law enforcement that help make Stafford safer than counties to the north and south.

“We have a great community here and we are blessed to have people with the background you have,” said Jett. “The people that moved here bring such value to our community.”

The Sheriff told the crowd that many of the criminals that are apprehended and crimes that are avoided start with a phone call from citizens that see something out of the ordinary and make a phone call.

“If everyone was like the people in this community I would be putting stickers on people’s hands at Wal-Mart because there would be no crime,” said Jett to a round of applause.

Falls Run Neighborhood Watch Director Bill Arnst accepted a certificate from the Sheriff before presenting a $100 donation to the Sheriff’s Special Olympics program.

Falmouth Supervisor Susan Stimpson spoke to the crowd briefly. She thanked them for their support to the county acknowledging that they are far from retired and praised them for their volunteerism in the county.

Stimpson advised the residents that she was just a phone call away if they had any concerns that needed to be addressed to the Board.

Olsen briefs senior security

At the beginning of the evening Arnst announced there had been an error in the dinner order and the potato salad from Jimmy the Greek restaurant would not be on the menu. And English joked that the potato salad would be going to Falls Run’s sister community, Celebrate.

When Stafford Prosecutor Eric Olsen stepped to the podium, he was greeted with a round of rousing applause and laughter when he announced that messing up the potato salad order at Jimmy the Greek’s “was a prosecutable offense.”

Olsen was the keynote speaker for the evening addressing the topic of victimization of senior citizens.

“The primary function of local government is the safety of its citizens,” said Olsen.

He began his career in the county more than 22 years ago when there were less than 60 thousand residents. He allowed that the downside to growth is that there is also more crime.

The prosecutor said law enforcement agencies learned many lessons in the 1980’s from Rudy Giuliani’s crackdown on crime in New York City.

Prior to Giuliani, the focus was on violent crimes and the city had an extremely high rate of major crimes. But Giuliani focused on quality of life crimes.

“The quality of life crimes had a ripple effect into big crimes,” said Olsen.

By prosecuting crimes at the quality of life level it kept criminals from spiraling upward into more major crime sprees according to Olsen.

“Because of that approach, the city is so much safer now than it was in the 1980’s,” said Olsen. “We in law enforcement learned a lesson from Rudy.”

Security in the community is a two-tiered system of both preventing crime and catching and prosecuting criminals said Olsen.

“It starts with Charlie Jett,” said Olsen. “My job is not preventing crime, but prosecuting the criminals.”

According to the prosecutor there was no community policy in 1989. But the Sheriff’s office has developed a good partnership with the citizens in the community.

Olsen said there has also been a change in the type of crime with a lot of the crimes being committed by people from outside the community because this is where they find victims. And he said the growth in crime also includes a significant increase in crimes focused on senior citizens.

“There are four types of crimes aimed at seniors,” said Olsen. “They are Internet scams, solicitation fraud, construction fraud, and caretaker fraud.”

He warned that almost all of these crimes of these crimes are preventable.

Olsen explained why seniors are vulnerable to these types of crimes and addressed ways seniors can protect themselves from falling victim to these criminals.

Although these quality of life crimes can be devastating on many levels, because they are non-violent and many have gone on for years before the perpetrator is caught they can be extremely difficult to prosecute.

“Attorneys defend their clients very effectively on the basis of them not having previous criminal charges” said Olsen “…and the fact that the crimes are non-violent.”

“If we do not punish these quality of life crimes there is no deterrent,” said Olsen. “And deterrence is a form of prevention.”

Residents shared information about programs in effect in the community that help protect their neighbors from scammers and other potential predatory businesses.

Many people asked for advice regarding dealing with Internet scams and checking backgrounds on potential caretakers.

Olsen provided some advice to the residents and challenged them to remain vigilant.

He said he sees law-abiding citizens in two manners, as victims or members of a jury.

“I only want to see you as members of a jury,” said Olsen as he concluded his remarks.

Olsen headed out to the Celebrate active adult community to join McGruff and the rest of the Sheriff’s entourage for another presentation.

The Sheriff’s S.W.A.T. Team also visited the Falls Run community earlier in the evening.

Marty van Duyne is an award winning photographer and journalist.