CPRO's Letter on Hi Cue Meetings

COLUMBIA PIKE REVITALIZATION ORGANIZATION
951 S George Mason Dr.
Suite 204 Arlington, VA 22204
703-892-CPRO

March 27, 1997

Ellen Bozman, Arlington County Board

Deputy Chief Bruer, Arlington Police Department

Mr. & Mrs. Choi, Hi Cue Billiards

Tom Fairchild CPRO and Alcova Heights

Reid Goldstein, New Arlington Douglas Park

Sgt. David Green, Arlington Police

Andy Lowe, P & H Investments

Chris Monek, CPRO and Barcroft School and Civic League

Nelson Rios, County Manager's Office

Howard Sharpe, Hamshar Properties

Randy Swart, Barcroft School and Civic League

FROM: Conchita Mitchell, Executive Director, CPRO

On Tuesday, March 25 and/or Wednesday, March 26 you participated in meetings held to address concerns raised because of a shooting death that occurred in the parking lot at George Mason Drive and Columbia Pike. By coming together as interested individuals from the neighborhood, county government and business community, it was possible to reach consensus on action that needs to be taken to prevent the same kind of incident from happening again.

I appreciate the willingness of all of you to work to address the issues at hand. Just as important is your willingness to come up with viable solutions for potential future problems. The collective wisdom was very helpful in addressing this tragic and frightening event.

After our discussions, I believe we are better able to identify the problems we are trying to address. The following summarizes our discussion.

• The situation is complex and no one has total ownership or responsibility for it.
• The new owners of Hi Cue have tightened up business practices and are trying to operate a drug and alcohol free environment.
• The murder took place in the parking lot and was related to actions that took place earlier in Fairfax County.
• This incident, combined with past history with the business has made people fearful of using the shopping center.
• The parking lot is used inappropriately late at night.
• Young people, often from other jurisdictions, are behaving in a way that is frightening to residents.
• Simply "closing the business" will not address some of the larger issues.
• Without a comprehensive approach to these kinds of problems, we will simply chase the problem from one neighborhood to the next and from one County to the next.
• The issues that lead to this murder and concerns of the citizens are not unique to this business, shopping center or neighborhood.

• use a newly implemented "banning notice" with the assistance of Arlington police to ban individuals who are disruptive or using the property inappropriately.
• increase security on the property to seven days a week in the evening.
• hire off-duty Arlington Police officers to provide security to the center.
• tow cars parked at night whose owners are not frequenting center establishments.
• keep parking lot lights on all night.
• communicate with neighbor businesses to determine best practices to make the center safe and inviting.
• continue to communicate with local citizen organizations.
• enforce all elements of the lease for the Hi Cue Billiards and remove the tenant if any violations occur.
• review current signage and make any changes needed to eliminate loitering.

• upgrade their surveillance camera and use the camera at all times.
• initiate a membership card system that uses a valid identification card such as a government id or drivers license to issue photo identification cards for Hi Cue customers that have the same information found on driver licenses (address, social security numbers etc.).
• keep on file the photo identification and other information.
• continue to take drivers licenses of customers, photocopy them and keep the photocopies on file for 90 days.
• abide by all requirements of their lessee.
• not allow any illegal activities to take place in their business.
• communicate with local civic groups.
• work with the Arlington Police Department as needed.

• monitor the implementation of the above commitments.
• communicate with the business owners, property owners, county officials and the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization if problems arise or commitments are not being met.
• communicate with members of their community and association to determine the best way to work with local businesses and the county government to address issues of public safety, to prevent future situations such as this.
• determine ways to use the information learned from this incident to make all of the Columbia Pike neighborhoods and business districts safer.
• continue the dialogue about larger issues in the community.
• encourage residents to communicate with the police department about activities of concern.

• has had the departments of Human Services, Community Planning, Police, Fire and Finance review their files concerning the operation of the business for compliance with applicable County regulations and codes, and reports that the business is currently in compliance.
• will provide nightly coverage at this location by the Community Based Problem Oriented Policing (CBPOP) team for the next several weeks.
• will commit other tactical units to provide additional surveillance in the area for the next several weeks.
• will provide police presence when the business closes each evening to insure that all parties disperse from the area.
• will continue to assertively respond to requests by representatives of the property owner to remove individuals from the property pursuant to the recently implemented "banning" process.
• will work with the Hi Cue business owners to increase their ability to identify false identifications and become informed about indicators that are typically associated with membership in gangs.
• will cooperate with the property and/or business owners to facilitate the use of off duty Arlington Police officers as security guards.
• will maintain lines of communication with all the parties involved in seeking solutions to this situation.

This page was revised on: July 29, 2006.