January 9, 2007
District Cops Move to a New Beat
On this, the eighth day of the Fenty administration, the Examiner poses an interesting question about the promised increase in beat-walking cops. The strategy is a hallmark of new Police Chief Cathy Lanier's community policing plan for a safer city.
Officials haven't said where they'll be targeting, but the paper lists ten likely areas of increased presence, including Chinatown, Adams Morgan, and Takoma Park.
The law enforcement theory behind assigned beats says they're most effective in business districts, public housing and areas of high pedestrian traffic. Under these criteria, the U street corridor seems like an important omission. Is this because there's already a glut of crime fighters in the area, or is it really quite safe?
With last year's crime emergency dove-tailed by a historic drop in murders, it seems sensible to focus on "intelligence gathering" and crime prevention to curb criminal activity before it escalates to homicide. But before the final community policing hot-spots are determined, officials should ask whether those areas are most in need of increased protection, or just the location of fairly minor, but high-profile crime, as is the case with the National Mall?
What do you think of the ten proposed beats? Is your neighborhood in need of a sustained police presence?
Photo by Flickr user cyaneyed. (No word yet on how Segways fit into Lanier's scheme.)
|
on u street, you might get shot, stabbed, hit with a brick, over charged for a hot dog, a martini or a condo. go back to kansas! all of you.
If you look at the crime reports in the paper, NW seems to have far more burglaries and robberies, although it seems likely that some of the burglaries and robberies in other parts of the city go unreported. Beat cops will likely cut down on burglaries and robberies, but I think that those determined to commit more heinous crimes will not truly be deterred by some extra fuzz on the street.
There need to be cops on 14th and 11th street as well as Georgia Ave...There has been tons of crime on 13th/14th between Harvard and Kenyon, and shit, Wonderland on 11th had an armed robbery during on a busy-ish time on a Friday night...
All I can think about is Wierd Al Yankovic and riding "white and nerdy"....
Lindsay, nice article.
I have a tiny edit.
That's just Takoma in the District-proper. Takoma Park is in MD.
Thanks.
The article in the Examiner lists "Takoma Park", Lindsay didn't make it up.
Takoma Park is located in the District of Columbia, Prince George's and Montgomery County, Maryland (because the founder and planner ignored jurisdictional lines).
Takoma Park, DC (used interchangeably with Takoma, DC) "is roughly bounded by Aspen St., NW, on the south; Piney Branch Rd., NW, and 7th St., NW, on the west; and Eastern Ave., NW, on the northeast".
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc1.htm
The article in the Examiner lists "Takoma Park", Lindsay didn't make it up.
Takoma Park is located in the District of Columbia, Prince George's and Montgomery County, Maryland (because the founder and planner ignored jurisdictional lines).
Takoma Park, DC (used interchangeably with Takoma, DC) "is roughly bounded by Aspen St., NW, on the south; Piney Branch Rd., NW, and 7th St., NW, on the west; and Eastern Ave., NW, on the northeast".
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc1.htm
Thanks for the tip. I assumed since the Takoma Park Metro is the last stop in the District on the Red Line that it's actually part of D.C. But you're right, Takoma is the neighborhood, Takoma Park is a town in Maryland.
The article in the Examiner lists "Takoma Park", Lindsay didn't make it up.
Takoma Park is located in the District of Columbia, Prince George's and Montgomery County, Maryland (because the founder and planner ignored jurisdictional lines).
Takoma Park, DC (used interchangeably with Takoma, DC) "is roughly bounded by Aspen St., NW, on the south; Piney Branch Rd., NW, and 7th St., NW, on the west; and Eastern Ave., NW, on the northeast".
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc1.htm
Columbia Heights?
"Under these criteria, the U street corridor seems like an important omission."
The commercial corridor on U is something like 11 blocks long. That's a bit big for a foot beat. A bike beat might do it, but the sidewalks are too narrow, and street traffic sucks, so that might not be such a hot idea. Of course, the most violent section of U Street stretches from about 13th to 7th, and that's not too big an area for a foot/bike beat to cover.
11th won't really be helped by this. Wonderland/Columbia Heights Coffee aside, there's not yet the commercial density to support a foot beat. The initiative that assigns a psa officer to get to know everyone on a block could very much help that area.
Hmmm. I sure hope the examinar is wrong on this one. I was really hoping for more residential community policing. (as in side streets and residential blocks) not just the commercial strips. This is where a lot of the more heinous and chronic activity is taking place.
If MPD follows through on the adopt-a-block plan for the residential areas, that could go a long way toward IDing and catching the perps of the chronic stuff.
I saw two mounted (horseback) police going up 11th street at Irving just about a week ago at 5:30pm. It would be cool to have more of those in the neighborhood!
"I assumed since the Takoma Park Metro is the last stop in the District on the Red Line..."
It's not, actually -- the name of the last stop in the District on the Red Line is "Takoma," not "Takoma Park"
http://wmata.com/metrorail/stations.cfm
picky, picky:
I guess we're both right? -
http://takomadc.info/history-long.htm#_ftn1
PGCist-
Fair enough. I stand corrected.
Sorry about the 3x post, I thought my computer was spazzing out.