This past weekend saw 15 robberies on Capitol Hill. The number is alarming. As a resident I can't remember a spike like that since my teenage days in the 90's. The weekend crimes included muggings at gunpoint, snatched money from cash registers, and even a couple walking home who were beaten with 2x4's.
As you may have seen on my previous post about youth crime getting ready to increase, the police are unprepared to prevent these incidents. We have seen community policing be effective across the city. Unfortunately there just isn't enough officers on the streets. Police presence will deter crime and the more cops we have out on the street, the safer our neighborhoods will be.
MPD needs both more resources and an overhaul of their booking system so that officers can spend more time on the streets and less time filling out paperwork at their desks. With crime increasing on Capitol Hill and across the city, I plea for help from our leaders. The better you can protect your consituents, the happier we will be and the more vibrant our communities will become.
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3 comments:
Sorry but I find your blog posting as a way to cause unnecessary fear in our community and to minimalize MPD's efforts & coverage. It's misleading and inaccurate to compare this to the 1990s. Stop living in the past.
In 2007, the level of open communication between MPD and Capitol Hill Residents is at it's highest ever. Listserves and monthly PSA meetings provide citizens information in timely manner.
In response to the previous comment, most Hill residents don't even know PSAs exist. Has there really been an increase in communication with MPD or just among certain residents? The reality is that many of our neighbors may not have internet access...they may not read the Rag or get the Voice; they don't know about the ANC or PSA. Communication may be at its highest, but only for the most vocal. I ran for ANC last November and found most people don't know what an ANC is. If that's an increase in communication, it remains dismal. I don't see outreach to the rest of our community; we should find novel ways to interact with other less-connected residents. Knowing about these crimes makes me more informed and aware, and I'm going to let my friends know about them. I thank Adam for trying to get the word out...and realizing that we need to address crime differently in order to stop it.
Community policing only goes so far. The juvenile criminals in DC quickly learn that the juvenile justice system is a joke. They are rarely ever confined for a serious period of time. Theres a difference between giving a kid who made a mistake a second chance and continuously releasing violent offenders to continue to prey on the community.
In my eyes, the whole problem is the mentality of the police. DC police are told by their supervisors (who fear discipline from their higher ups and legal liability) never to chase. So these young offenders learn if you just robbed someone, take off in that car you stole. Even if they catch you, the officer who did is likely to spend more days on suspension for chasing you than the criminal will in juvenile detention.
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