Det. Gary Lose of the Vienna Police Department has had a good year. At the October meeting of the Vienna Women's Club, held last Wednesday, Oct. 18, Police Chief Robert Carlisle highlighted a few of the detective's latest successes before presenting him with the Women's Club Police Officer of the Year award.
Lose, a 10-year veteran of the department, made an arrest in a child abuse case regarding a report of an infant with about 20 broken bones and a fractured skull. "Hours of skillful, sympathetic interviewing by Lose revealed that the mother inflicted the damage due to depression and mental problems," said Carlisle, noting the difficulties — both strategic and emotional — in obtaining "such a horrific confession."
Lose closed cases in four different states when he identified the man who had bought vehicles with counterfeit checks in Vienna, as well as jurisdictions in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Using "expert techniques and a photo lineup," said Carlisle, Lose identified an accomplice in one of the Vienna cases. Through the accomplice, he was able to pinpoint the main perpetrator. Thereby, "Lose solved a great number of cases in these other jurisdictions and stopped many additional citizens from becoming victims," said Carlisle.
Assigned to a case in which someone had smashed into two closed gas stations in Vienna and stolen numerous items, Lose found that a rash of similar burglaries had been committed in Maryland. Working with Maryland police, he was able to identify the burglar, secure warrants for his arrest and have him extradited to Fairfax County. He then obtained confessions from the man, solving numerous cases around the beltway.
PERHAPS THE MOST notorious case which Lose recently solved was that of Andrew Jacobs, the karate instructor who broke into a Vienna home and attempted to bind two of his pupils, twin 10-year-old girls. Lose arrested Jacobs based on the parents' hunch and wounds he noticed on Jacobs that were consistent with the struggle the family described. Then, through an interrogation, he obtained a full confession from Jacobs. "This confession, combined with other evidence, compelled Andrew Jacobs to plead guilty, avoiding a trial involving the 10-year-old girls," said Carlisle.
He also noted that Lose helps out with various tasks around the department that do not necessarily fall under his responsibility. "His daily actions reflect his desire to help citizens, assist his fellow officers and improve the quality of the department," said Carlisle.
Lose thanked the Women's Club for providing the award "at a time when most people aren't very happy when the police show up at their door."
He also thanked his wife, who he said supported him when he decided to change careers, from a job in data processing to police work. "She didn't have me committed," he said. Lose added that his present line of work was more rewarding than the previous. "Nothing compares to calling up the two 10-year-old girls and letting them know the guy who tried to abduct them is in jail," he said.
MUCH OF THE MATERIAL in Carlisle's speech was derived from the nomination for Lose written by Lt. Lou Forges, who was the detective's supervisor in the station's Central Investigation Bureau. Forges moved to the records section about a year ago, but he said he still often calls on Lose for assistance.
One of Lose's strongest assets, said Forges, is his ability to pry information and confessions from suspects. "To interview someone who doesn't want to say what they did takes a lot of skill," he said. "Gary did an exemplary job."
Carlisle said the station's captain and three lieutenants vote on the five or so nominations written each year, and he only casts a vote in the event of a tie. This year's vote, he said, was unanimous. "He's just had a terrific year," Carlisle said, noting that Lose has recently handled "some very complex cases" and had devised some of his own methods for solving them.
He noted that Lose had initially had to take a pay cut and attend a six-month police academy to begin his career as an officer. "That takes a little bit of fortitude," said Carlisle.
The Vienna Women's Club has presented a member of the town's police department with the Officer of the Year award every year since 1967.