Rape on 4 Mile Run

[OneEighth]

Perhaps we ought to have a separate spot on the forum that just deals with safety issues.

In any case, thought I would include this (sent out by neighborhood association) for those of you who use 4 Mile Run regularly.

RAPE, 07/03/12, Orange Marker 44 on Four Mile Run Trail. Between 7:30 and
8 pm on July 3, a female victim was jogging on the bike trail when she
was confronted by a subject with a knife and sexually assaulted off the
trail. The subject fled the scene and is described as a Hispanic male,
approximately 30 years of age, 5’5”-6” tall, 140 lbs. with a small head
and high pitched voice. He was wearing a green t-shirt with “George”
written across the front, possibly a George Mason University shirt.

Situational awareness isn’t just for your safety. It’s for those who come after you as well.

Topic

[consularrider]

There were two Arlington County Police officers out on the trail just west of Columbia Pike on Thursday evening, July 5 handing out fliers and talking with trail users. The fliers are now posted on some of the signs in the area where the rape occured.

[PotomacCyclist]

I posted the news last week on the forum: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?2568-Woman-raped-near-Four-Mile-Run-Trail-(Glencarlyn-Park)

I don’t think we need a separate sub-forum for safety issues. There aren’t too many threads on the topic. And if those threads were separated out, they may not get as much notice as the General Discussion forum gets.

FMR Trail is somewhat isolated. Probably not ideal for late evening solo runs. I hope the police have made progress in finding the attacker.

[OneEighth]

@PotomacCyclist 25177 wrote:

I don’t think we need a separate sub-forum for safety issues. There aren’t too many threads on the topic. And if those threads were separated out, they may not get as much notice as the General Discussion forum gets.

I’m thankful there aren’t many instances like this to report. That there aren’t many of them will make it easier to stay on top of security concerns in the area, too—less to take in. But if these sorts of alerts are not under a separate heading, they will get lost. This sort of thing is truly “fingertips info”.

I was out of town and not checking the forum last week, but am glad that you posted the info. The fact that I didn’t notice that you had done so underscores my point, btw.

Thanks though.

[consularrider]

This morning I passed to Arlington Police Officers walking on the 4MRT in the Glencarlyn area. I wish I had stopped to see if they were part of an increased patrol presence for the area.

[rcannon100]

I like to bike home that way – I have seen a lot of ACPD on the trail. Once on Segways, another time on bikes.

[consularrider]

@rcannon100 27415 wrote:

I like to bike home that way – I have seen a lot of ACPD on the trail. Once on Segways, another time on bikes.

Interesting, I saw a pair of Segway mounted ACPD (I think one may have even been the District One Commander) a couple weeks ago, but haven’t seen a bike patrol in some time. From the ACPD website, it looks like the Bike Patrol is all Auxiliary.

[JorgeGortex]

@consularrider 27427 wrote:

Interesting, I saw a pair of Segway mounted ACPD (I think one may have even been the District One Commander) a couple weeks ago, but haven’t seen a bike patrol in some time. From the ACPD website, it looks like the Bike Patrol is all Auxiliary.

One of the silliest things that ACPD has done is not put more officers on a foot/bike beat. Every Wednesday you read about the latest crimes that have taken place in the county and you have to wonder how much better their coverage would be if they had more officers and on top of that more officers out of their cars? There is no way you can really see what is going on cruising around in a car all day. On foot or better yet, by bike, you can get to and see places normally out of view. Plus you get to know shop owners, residents, and the regular trouble makers up close and personal.

If we had more officers on bikes we might also have more people in cars behaving too… setting and example and being a presence in that way as well.

Sorry, this may have gone off topic, but its frustrating to see my home town slowly develop a greater crime problem with no logical, common sense solutions being used.

JG

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