Holly Street Resident Brings Crimes to City Council's Attention

Two burglaries occurred in Del Ray during the first week of March, but an Alexandria Police spokesperson says they are not connected like that hit the area earlier this year.

According to reports, an unknown suspect entered a home on the 1400 block of Mt. Vernon Avenue through an unlocked window on March 3 and made off with a television, laptop and wallet.

On March 4, the home located at 2705 S. Holly Street was entered and several items were stolen, including cash, collector coins, a laptop and rings. According to police reports, the home was left unlocked.

David Bouk, who has lived in the home on Holly Street for almost 45 years, has had his home burglarized twice and had his car broken into once in the last three months.

Concerned with the crimes, he spoke at the Alexandria City Council hearing on Saturday.

“Crime has apparently come to the neighborhood in a fairly persistent manner,” Bouk said. “This is not something that we’re used to and I can tell you it’s ceasing to be funny real quick. I just wanted to call this to the [council’s] attention that neighborhoods that haven’t been experiencing persistent crime are now experiencing it.”

Bouk said he has been pleased with the response from police and he feels that the city is being run “wonderfully.” He just wanted to bring the string of crimes to the attention of city officials.

“This is not just a random thing,” he said. “This is persistent. … Both times [the house was burglarized] no one was home. … They go for easy things like cash and jewelry.”

Responding to Bouk’s concerns, Mayor Bill Euille said the police are “on top of it.” He mentioned the in a string of burglaries that hit the northeast section of the city earlier this year.

“This is something we’re monitoring very closely,” Councilman Rob Krupicka said to Bouk. “I live in [Del Ray] too. … The good news is city-wide crime is down. And it’s close to kind of all-time record lows. But we have had some pockets of problems in Del Ray and Beverley Hills that you are articulating and very intensive attention is being put on them. It helps you to come down and highlight it so we can continue to put pressure on the police.” 

Police remind citizens to keep their homes and cars locked and to remove valuables from vehicles when they are parked.

For a look at recent crime in the Del Ray area,