We were sitting by the window and saw our neighbor coming home from work as
usual. A group of kids were running along side him and they started
punching him and pushed him to the group. Our neighbor is at least 70 years
old! We saw him go after the kids so my husband went out to help and I called
911. The woman who answered the phone couldn't have cared less. When she
asked where they were, I told her that I couldn't see them anymore because
they went after the kids. She told me to call the police when they came
back. I hung up in anger and frustration.
Apparently, the kids followed this elderly man back from Eastern Market taunting him the entire way. Ultimately, he was left cut and bleeding. Despite the call to 911, the police never showed up. 911 operators must take these calls seriously. There is no excuse for this lack of enforcement. We know that MPD is burdened with bureaucratic red tape and paperwork, but citizens need help. To make this city safer, we need to let our officers do their jobs!
13 comments:
Right on, Adam! How do we engage our police force in our communities? This is a city-wide issue and I'd like to see greater interaction between the police and communities. PSAs are great, but it's not the same as seeing an officer walk by my house.
Remember that old song, "911 is a joke... 911 is a joke..."
Well, that song was written in DC for DC. I refuse to submit police reports or anything else for that matter in this city. MPD is way too understaffed to handle what this city brings.
The 911 dispatchers and call takers are not part of the police department. They are part of the Office of Unified Communications.
I live in 3D but saw the email you sent on this topic. Unfortunatelly my experiences with 311 or 911 have not been good. However I can suggest you get to know the officers in your area and ask them for their cell phone numbers. Once they trust you not to call them for every little thing, it is a very effective way to get fast service and circumvent the 311-911 system.
If we circumvent 911 with "personal" calls, don't we create an emergency system based on who you know and now on your needs?
This same group of kids tried to attack a friend of mine 2 weeks ago. She was at the corner of 10th and G St. SE when a group of kids started heckling her. This escalated into them throwing rocks at her and threatening to hurt her. She ran and they chased her, fortunately she found a couple who helped her. When she called police, they said they had received numerous reports about this group and they were "aware of the situation." This is ridiculous and if the police will not step up it is time for members of the neighborhood to step up.
Does anyone know if there is a neighborhood watch for the Eastern Market area?
It's not a question of understaffing. The city has an unbelievably high peace officer to resident ratio. It's a question of whether the district is going to adopt the sorts of community policing and best practices that reduce crime, get peace officers out their cars, and start interacting with the community.
DC (like in many things) just wants to throw more officers (and money) at the problem -- or new cameras -- anything to avoid engaging the community. While simultaneously spending more of our already high taxes.
Instead of working smarter with the available resources. And looking at what has worked in cities that seem to actually want to fix the problems (especially those cash strapped cities that have simultaneously reduced crime while maintaining their budgets) and not just enrich the system.
We need to demand better.
Take matters into your own hands. Form a counter gang. Place a decoy in "high risk" areas. Have him/her act aged, scared, then run with them in pursuit to the waiting "counter gang" with plastic zip handcuffs and 911 on the way. Cuff them, organize the other victims to positive ID them, and have DC prosecute them. They'll cry to the judge about their situation, get 2 months JV and be back on the streets; but some of them might turn around. Right on.
Another idea would be to get the Guardian Angels involved.
I have to say I agree with "ch res"; get a group of able-bodied neighbors and fight back. Be very careful how you do it, of course, and don't be overly confrontational (these are kids and you cannot properly handle them while upset or angry). Overall, though, the best way to engage the police is to invite them to your neighborhood meetings and into your homes; in other words, call them for good things as well as for bad. This will not only build relationships, but it will also be a way to let the police know directly what issues there are in your neighborhoods. Turn your anger and frustration into action, not fingerpointing and bitterness. And don't forget to call on your Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners. Though I'm an ANC in Mt. Pleasant, all ANC's take an oath to support all the citizens of the District of Columbia. Go to the ANC homepage via www.dc.gov and find out who your ANC is (and if you can't get hold of your specific ANC, then contact one of the other Commissioners or contact me and I'll get someone to respond). This is a great, great city and will become greater still as more and more citizens actively participate in this great democratic experiment.
Joe Anthony Esparza
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner
Single Member District 1D02
Mt. Pleasant, Washington, DC
jesparzadc@hotmail.com
202-422-3817
DC has more police officers per capita than any other city in the nation. Yet Fenty and Mendelson want more officers. I don't get it.
The kids know they won't do any time because the juvenile justice system in DC does not believe in holding kids responsible. They refer to offenders as "clients" and "court involved youth". Check out the government web sites.
Ed, how many of those officers are Park Police, US Capitol, or otherwise tied to federal lands and not the communities in which we live?
But you're right about the lack of taking juvenile crime seriously. Where are the parents? Lock mom or dad up for a night and see how long junior will throw rocks at people.
I live within blocks of the MPD4 police station and seldom see a cruiser, let alone a bike or foot patrol! We need more foot patrols, bike patrols and officers getting out of their cars, talking to residents and to those seen "hanging out." Only by making their presence known can we reduce this type of activity. If they aren't in the neigbhorhoods, what are they doing?
Chrisafer, I'm not including Park Police, etc in the count. There are 3800 MPD officers, just raised to 3900. This works out to 67 officers per 10,000 people. Check out the stats for yourself. The next highest is Baltimore with 50 per 10,000. New York City has 46 per 10,000 people. The average for the 25 largest cities in the nation is 29 per 10,000.
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