More Migration from PG County to Fairfax? (Alexandria, Burke: middle-class, transplants)

[Skapov]

Hi Folks!

Having moved from Prince Georges, Maryland partly to escape the crime problem, I've been noticing that Burke/West Springfield area also seems to have many new transplants like myself. I love my new community and have also advised friends & co-workers who live in Prince Georges to move to Burke, while raving about the great schools and safe neighborhoods, but since I've subscribed to a Crime Blotter I see that Burke apparently has an upswing of CRIME happening! Worse still, seems like this latest incident has a PG County connection!

QUESTION: Is Maryland's crime wave spilling over to Fairfax County? Would you still recommend Burke/West Springfield to friends & family as a safe livable community?


Five Stabbed at Burke-Area Birthday Party



Fairfax County Police Department
Public Information Office
4100 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, Va. 22030
703-246-2253. TTY 703-204-2264. Fax 703-246-4253
FCPD-PIO@fairfaxcounty.gov
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police
News Release: 08/075/0068/LHC(7)
March 16, 2009


Police responded to reports of a fight in the 5600 block of Castlebury Court around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, March 14.
Allegedly, when uninvited guests were asked to leave an 18th birthday party, a fight broke out. Police continue to investigate reports from witnesses to determine suspect information. Investigators do not believe the incident is gang-related.
Four Prince Georges County, Maryland men, aged 15, 18 and two 20-year-olds sustained stab wounds and were transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital. They were treated for non life-threatening injuries. A fifth person, 22-year-old male, reported to the Inova Alexandria emergency room several hours later and was also treated for stab wounds.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477, e-mail at www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES/274637 or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.

[mdcrim]

The beauty of Virginia is that they actually hold people accountable for their crimes. So, even though these are PG County folk, they may actually be held without bond (unheard of in PG County) and may even have to spend some time in the pokey.

I am a PG County transplant (worked in the criminal justice field there and here) and know of many MD people who won't set foot in Virginia because of that accountability. Even if PG is spilling over, word gets back to the streets there (and in DC) that Virginia is harsh so it keeps us safer here.

[bowian]

Originally Posted by Skapov

Hi Folks!

Having moved from Prince Georges, Maryland partly to escape the crime problem, I've been noticing that Burke/West Springfield area also seems to have many new transplants like myself. I love my new community and have also advised friends & co-workers who live in Prince Georges to move to Burke, while raving about the great schools and safe neighborhoods, but since I've subscribed to a Crime Blotter I see that Burke apparently has an upswing of CRIME happening! Worse still, seems like this latest incident has a PG County connection!

QUESTION: Is Maryland's crime wave spilling over to Fairfax County? Would you still recommend Burke/West Springfield to friends & family as a safe livable community?


Five Stabbed at Burke-Area Birthday Party



Fairfax County Police Department
Public Information Office
4100 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, Va. 22030
703-246-2253. TTY 703-204-2264. Fax 703-246-4253
FCPD-PIO@fairfaxcounty.gov
www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police
News Release: 08/075/0068/LHC(7)
March 16, 2009


Police responded to reports of a fight in the 5600 block of Castlebury Court around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, March 14.
Allegedly, when uninvited guests were asked to leave an 18th birthday party, a fight broke out. Police continue to investigate reports from witnesses to determine suspect information. Investigators do not believe the incident is gang-related.
Four Prince Georges County, Maryland men, aged 15, 18 and two 20-year-olds sustained stab wounds and were transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital. They were treated for non life-threatening injuries. A fifth person, 22-year-old male, reported to the Inova Alexandria emergency room several hours later and was also treated for stab wounds.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers by phone at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477, e-mail at www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES/274637 or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131.

Hmmm. As I read the press release, it says four guys from PG sustained stab wounds, not that they inflicted the stab wounds. How do you know a VA resident didn't do the stabbing? The residency of the fifth victim is conveniently missing. What's the point of this post again.

Full disclosure: I am a PG County resident.

I'm glad that you think Burke is wonderful and crime-free (although no one has been stabbed at any parties near my home in Bowie). But what is the point of this post? I mean, other than to be divisive and continue the MD v. VA silliness?

[Skapov]

The point of my post, is that people sold Burke to me as this safe wonderful place to raise a family, yet when I read the Crime Blotter there are many crimes happening here too. So that makes me wonder why did my husband & I pay a premium to buy a home in Fairfax County if we're still gonna have to deal with crimes?!

As a former PG County resident, I really would have preferred to stay in Upper Marlboro because it was affordable and I liked living in a Middle-Class African-American community. Thing is, I didn't want to live my life in fear of getting burglarized/raped/murdered. I have a coworker who is terrorized because she lives not too far from where the DOUBLE Mother-Daughter murders happened, and I moved to Burke to get away from all that! Now, seems I may as well had stayed in PG County.

[bowian]

Well, while I don't agree with how you did it, I am hoping that there really isn't a wave of crime heading your way, regardless of where it's coming from. But I do think that double murders like that can happen anywhere. It's definitely very scary.

[pcity]

Originally Posted by Skapov

So that makes me wonder why did my husband & I pay a premium to buy a home in Fairfax County if we're still gonna have to deal with crimes?!

You're going to have to deal with crime wherever you live, be it Anacostia or the Alaskan tundra. Statistically, though, there's much less of it in the average Fairfax County suburb than the average Prince George's suburb. You can't live in fear just because you read about some isolated fights and/or murders happening. Remember that the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

[Vacherie074]

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but CRIME IS EVERYWHERE! My family (niece and nephew and their growing families) lives in Hamilton, VA. Just moved 1 year-ago into their new home, built from the ground up, beautiful area, neighbors not too close, but, when they moved from P.G. County they first lived in Sterling and decided to move from there after three years because of young teen boys fighting with their parents and bullying school students, and just acting really bad! Now I hate to go there, but when my niece and her husband first moved to Sterling, their back door had these words spray painted on - Go Home N-----s not tell you what that said! The crime in the Sterling area were done by rebellious white teen boys, but do we hear of this in the media? NO!! One of my Professors lived in Burke, VA. and he said that he hated it there, so when he retired from teaching, he moved to Dallas, Texas and said he is living the good life! As far as my niece and nephew are concerned in their new homes, the one living in Hamilton is spolied to the core with her neighborhood, schools, church, shopping, etc. My nephew; who is also in his five-year-military career, moved to another area of Sterling, but lives in a single family home with his wife and two sons, and enjoys his diverse neighborhood! Keep this in mind, crime is EVERYWHERE and any law enforcement agency will tell you that, but will all areas get treated fairly in the media when reporting crime? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! SO, you see, everyone who lives or comes from P.G. County is not bad, as I am a current P.G. County resident too. I am well into my last few months of obtaining my Master's Degree, works for The Immigration & Naturalization Division-Homeland Security, have two grown successful daughters, and we all are law abiding citizens, with a large number of police officers and law enforcement family members. Finally, what you have to realize is that D/M/V is made up of people from all areas of the world!! Sorry for the typos and grammer, was writing very fast - ready to go home from work -lol!

[TrippingJay]

Originally Posted by Skapov

QUESTION: Is Maryland's crime wave spilling over to Fairfax County? Would you still recommend Burke/West Springfield to friends & family as a safe livable community?

So now crime in Fairfax is only caused by people from PG county?
In reality no area is immune from crime. Perhaps if you did some research on the crime before moving in, you'd see than crime has happened even in Burke.

My SO has a few co-workers who reside in Burke and break-ins, car thefts and vandalism are not all that uncommon.

[athousandlogins]

Is Maryland's crime wave spilling over to Fairfax County? Would you still recommend Burke/West Springfield to friends & family as a safe livable community?

Well, until we build a giant wall to keep Marylanders out (which, by the way, I am NOT advocating, LOL), I think crime will always move across the borders. And why wouldn't it? Criminals don't, as a group, respect well-guarded national borders; they're not going to be put off by, I don't know, the Beltway. Unless they don't feel like sitting in traffic.

But yes, despite this I would still absolutely recommend Burke as a good, "family-friendly" area.

One incident that involved young men from Prince George's - as the vicitms, nonetheless! - does not an epidemic make. And even if it could be proven to be part of a trend, would it matter? Look, utopia doesn't exist. If you spent $400K+ on a home in Fairfax County, believing that it was all sunshine and lollipops and unicorns here, then I'm sorry that your gulibility has lead you astray. But I don't really think it's any secret that Fairfax County has some crime. And the vast majority of it is not imported from Maryland or anywhere else. Economic times are bad everywhere these days, too, and that never helps with crime. Anywhere. Restless young adults who can't get jobs are more likely to get in trouble.

But FFX is still not an unsafe place to live, by any stretch of the imagination. Some neighborhoods are better than others, of course, but I don't think I'd be *afraid* anywhere in the county. Definitely not in Burke. But you can't fool yourself into thinking that anywhere is perfectly safe, either. Unfortunately, people can be idiots anywhere you go

[Yankeesfan]

Fairfax County is by far the safest jurisdiction of its size in the country. But last year under Gerry Connolly the Board of Supervisors instituted across-the-board budget cuts including to the police department (instead of cutting other less-essential areas) and guess what? Crime went up by about the same percentage that the police budget was cut.