BETHESDA POLICE COMMANDER DEPLOYS EXTRA OFFICERS FOR SHOPPING HOTSPOTS, DUI OFFENDERS

Captain David Falcinelli, Commander for the 2nd District of the Montgomery County Police, issued a statement yesterday regarding progress on several recent crime trends in the Bethesda area.

Falcinelli wrote that an alleged robber posing as a job-seeker recently attempted to steal the purse of an employee at an unspecified Bethesda business. The suspect was arrested within hours, Falcinelli said, and remains behind bars. A second suspect, who robbed a Wildwood Shopping Center ATM customer, was also caught by police.

A rise in daytime burglaries has cooled off, with no similar incidents reported since mid-November, Falcinelli said. He added that 2 suspects were arrested in early December, and that police have leads on three others that they are confident will lead to their arrest.

Finally, with the holiday shopping season at its height, Falcinelli said that he is deploying extra officers to major shopping areas such as downtown Bethesda, Westfield Montgomery Mall, and the high-end retail shopping centers in the Friendship Heights area. He also warned residents about the usual holiday gift thieves who prowl mall parking lots looking for packages in vehicles, or who chase UPS and FedEx trucks to collect boxes after they are dropped on doorsteps. The Holiday Season DUI Task Force will continue to patrol area streets throughout the holidays, he said.