My Thoughts on the an Appropriate Policy Response

to the tragedy at Virginia Tech

In planning to address issues surrounding the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I have tried to adhere to areas where I have specific knowledge or experience.  There will be a hearing of the Courts of Justice Committee on September 10th, 2007 in House Room D of the General Assembly Building to discuss the tragedy.  I plan to bring up for discussion two issues:

I. Having sheparded many young people through the mental health commitment process, I do not believe that the decision to remove gun rights should not rest solely on an involuntery commitment decision.  Frequently, individuals found eligible for involuntary commitment, which precludes them from possessing a firearm, are offered the option of voluntary commitment, which allows them to maintain their gun rights.  I believe that a decision related to loss of gun rights should be made in a separate and distinct finding and based on criteria established uniformly throughout the state when an individual is detained for a mental health commitment hearing.    

II. When the mental health system identifies individuals who are of concern, it is critical that these individuals receive services.  Our mental health system in Virginia is overly reliant on office bound treatment personnel.  While many services boards have good crisis response, there are many Virginians with mental health issues who would better be served by field-based practitioners who could meet them where they live.  Because of their disabilities, these individuals may not routinely report for therapy sessions, court ordered or otherwise.  Practitioners who are trained and compensated for the hazards of this kind of work must be deployed throughout Virginia to ensure that individuals of concern are monitored, treated and continually evaluated as part of their medication management. 

It remains to be seen whether my concerns will become legislation, but I am beginning the process of communicating with my colleagues in the House of Delegates and mental health professionals to determine the efficacy of solutions such as these. 

Report on Gang Activity in the 41st District

As part of my work as your Delegate to the General Assembly, I took a tour that focused on gang activity in the 41st District and the Springfield Mall last summer.   My tour was led by three members of Fairfax County's Gang Unit and the county Gang Coordinator, to whom I am grateful for taking the time to further educate me about the areas of our district that have most recently experienced gang activity. I found the police professionals who work to eradicate this problem to be very knowledgeable about current activity.

What I Learned

The police showed me where graffiti exists on the alley sides of several commercial buildings. I am concerned about how activity such as this could affect the economic and commercial viability of Burke and West Springfield. There was also a large amount of graffiti under the bridge that runs over the tracks on Burke Lake Road, which had recently been painted over by authorities. A pile of perhaps one hundred paint cans was still in place. There have been several acts of gang-related violence in the Burke-West Springfield area in the past year and a half and I am concerned that, when coupled with what the police showed me, we have a problem on our hands that needs to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner. Of further concern, in one location, the police showed me a number of drug-related devices and alcohol containers that had been left by gang affiliated abusers. This location also contained some recent and explicit graffiti. What this tells me is that not only should we be concerned about this from a public safety and violence prevention standpoint, but we should also be concerned that these individuals may be bringing drugs into our community.

How this Affects Our Youth

I had very good personal experiences with our Gang Unit while working as the Superintendent of the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center . From what I have seen, they are proactively combating this problem to the best of their ability. While they have good intelligence and are working hard to eliminate gang activity, sporadic incidents are occurring. Gang members as well as innocent young people are getting hurt. Different youths in our schools have different perceptions of the problem. Some see evidence of gangs, while others do not. Our goal should be to do everything we can to minimize gang membership and make schools a safer and more conducive learning environment.

What Different People are Doing (Or Not Doing) to Combat this Problem

The change of ownership of Springfield Mall that took place recently created a drop in problems there by approximately 50%, according to police sources. The new owners have significantly increased security. There are important plans to upgrade the mall, remove retailers that are likely to attract vulnerable youth, and provide transit-oriented development to the site. Such development (in addition to being advisable from a transportation planning perspective) will increase day and night foot traffic, which will in turn enhance safety for anyone visiting the mall.

I have introduced two bills related to intervention and prevention of gang activity. I passed legislation allowing juvenile probation officers to communicate gang-related intelligence to police officers in order to prevent gang activity and recruitment. A second piece of legislation I introduced, giving young people a real and tangible reason to stay out of gangs because of concern for the impact their actions may have on their families, was held over until next year in the Senate.

I was very disappointed in the General Assembly, as was Governor Kaine, by the actions of both the House and Senate when they removed 100%, or $3.6 million of anti-gang funding from both his and Governor Warner's budgets. I was chosen by the Democratic Caucus to object on the floor to this move, but the funding was rejected by every member of the House Republican Caucus, which has a majority. This vote included several Northern Virginia Republican Delegates who voted AGAINST providing money for intervention and prevention in our communities to fight this problem. Fortunately, some federal dollars have been provided to partially fund a gang task force in Northern Virginia . The rest of the state is not as fortunate.

Where do we go from Here?

As a community, we need to remove evidence of gang activity. We should remove all graffiti and litter and find a way to encourage civic associations to be involved in monitoring these places and notifying police of suspicious activity or new graffiti. I will be working with other local elected officials and the school system to get a better handle on these problems as well as continuing to work with police to identify areas in which legislation would be helpful. I will also be organizing a Community Clean-Up Day with Supervisor McConnell to do some of this work ourselves. I encourage you to join me and help make our community a better place to live and raise a family. Please call me at 703-323-4733 or email me at deldmarsden@house.state.va.us if you would like to get involved in this clean-up day effort.

--Dave Marsden

The Gang Threat: A Get Tough Strategy
An Action Plan to Reduce Trafffic

My Higher Education Initiative

I bring three things to the General Assembly: over 31 years of experience in criminal justice, a proven record of working across the aisle to find real solutions, and a plan for Virginia 's future that proposes real action to solve our youth gang, traffic, and education challenges.

More than anything, I want to use the skills and lessons I've learned from three decades in juvenile justice to craft a tough strategy that suppresses Northern Virginia 's youth gangs and prevents them from spreading deeper into our community.  This is a problem I've been fighting for years and I want to make sure Richmond is responding appropriately today, so our children won't be vulnerable to this growing threat tomorrow.

I have lived in Fairfax County all my life. It has always been a tremendous place to live and work. Our strength comes from our business-friendly environment and world-class schools, both of which have spurred tremendous economic growth in recent years.  Men and women move here from across America because we offer opportunities to work on the cutting edge of technology, finance, and government.   People come here to be the best at what they do.

But we are at risk of losing our economic strength if we do not act quickly to solve a number of important issues: our transportation system is inadequate and clogged with traffic, our state colleges and universities can't accommodate all the Virginians they should, youth gangs are encroaching on our communities, and illegal immigration is on the rise.  If we allow these problems to worsen, we risk losing what makes Fairfax County an attractive place to live and start a business.

Some say they support better schools, roads, and improved public safety, but they don't have the courage to actually fund them.  Others want to solve these problems with ideology and simple, quick fixes. And still others claim we can solve everything by just making government more “efficient”.  While I wish this were the case, we have heard politicians in Richmond talking about this for years—meanwhile our roads have become more crowded and our state universities still don't have enough seats.

I am running to take real action to solve these problems.  My experience as the former head of a state agency has taught me that the best way to solve problems is by working with both sides of the aisle to find practical solutions.  My Plan for Virginia's Future is just this, a set of real solutions that I will present to both parties in Richmond to solve our most urgent challenges.