June 18, 2007
Down One Weekend, Up the Next
It looks like Police Chief Cathy Lanier might have to go back to the drawing board.
After her new summer crime initiative enjoyed a successful rollout with a full-scale police deployment and a record number of weekend arrests two weeks back, this last weekend wasn't nearly as peaceful. According to WJLA, four seperate shootings over a two-hour period on Saturday night and Sunday morning (two dead, two injured) forced Lanier to call a meeting today with her District Commanders to discuss how best to stem the usual summer spike in crime. Specifically, Lanier might have to look into more weekend-long mass deployments, instead of using them as one-time tools to set a tone for the summer months. Of course, should she start forcing officers to work more and more overtime, her crime strategy might start looking more and more like her predecessor's much-hated crime emergencies -- along with the consequent drops in police morale.
Obviously, a balance is needed. I've been happy to see more and more police in my neighborhood, both in cars and on bikes. I was also satisfied with the full-scale deployment, but thought Lanier's decision to make it a one-time deal was misguided. After all, what type of tone do you set when you tell the city's residents that the rest of the summer will be business as usual? We can't expect the city's 3,800 police officers to work every weekend until September, but we can expect that Lanier live up to her promise to more carefully assess where crimes happen, when they happen, who commits them and what measures would best deter them. What this last weekend proved is that crime follows the balloon effect -- press down on one side, and another pops up in its place -- and that one-time initiatives can't pass as sustainable strategies.
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From what I had heard it wasn't meant to be a one time thing, so much as a maybe once a month thing that would be much more effective than the "crime emergency" declared over the three month period.
What I find interesting from various discussions, is that one of the reasons morale sucks is that officers aren't allowed to do what they used to do, which is police. I'm not talking about the Rodney King style beat-down, I'm just talking about hauling some low-lifes ass off to jail without the threat of getting written up for bruising his or her wrists with handcuffs, or maybe bumping their heads on the top of the cruiser when they get stuffed in under less than comfortable positions.
I'd prefer my police to be less afraid of losing their pensions for taking a drug-dealing murdering rapist off the street. Unfortunately in our "humane" society, criminals get treated far too humanely for their crimes and the police end up suffering for doing their jobs.
I don't think I know what the happy medium is, and I wish that I knew, but I hope that one of the Chief's primary goals is to figure out how to get her cops to do their jobs safely while cutting them a little slack for doing them. And maybe people should realize that it's a dirty job that sometimes gets ugly.
i don't get it. so if the police were allowed to bruise people and hit them on the head, those shootings wouldn't have happened this weeked? there's some "happy medium" between what the poster thinks is happening right now and brutally beating unarmed men to nearly to death? we should strive for that medium? no thanks. i don't want a police department with a license to brutalize or bruise.
Chief Ramsey instituted excessive oversight of police officers, including oversight by the Justice Dept. In the past, this may have been needed. But instead of firing poor performing officers, the "rules" have forced out our best officers. It is far too easy for criminals to file bogus complaints against good cops. On the other hand you have cops that go the whole year without making an arrest. The District has more police officers per capita than any other city in the country. This is not including the Park Police, Capitol Police, etc. Where are all these police? How many cops are on "no contact" status? How many cops have made no arrests in the past year?
The best officer in my neighborhood has stacks of "complaints" against him. There are more cops investigating fellow cops than investigating murders in DC.
Chief Lanier needs to wake up and rescind Chief Ramsey's orders, turn off the constant flashing lights on patrol cars, get bums off the street, fire lazy cops, and pressure the US Attorney and the Courts to get tough on criminals. And please stop talking about the "fear of crime". The fear of crime in DC is well deserved.
Look, there is a police car five blocks away. Geez, grab that taxi before it reaches us.
Thank's for the warning lights.
DC really likes giving us perps a heads up.
there's some "happy medium" between what the poster thinks is happening right now and brutally beating unarmed men to nearly to death?
I seem to have missed that last incident. Have there been notable incidents of cops beating unarmed suspects to death in DC? There were a few cases of that in PG County, but for the most part DC's cops' hands have been pretty tied when it comes to handling suspects. If they don't get sent home within 24 hours with a pat on the head and a lollypop, they're liable for violating the suspect's civil rights. And god help you if you give them a grape flavored one when they wanted cherry.
W/o sounding too harsh or "snooty", I'd be interested to hear which neighborhood does the author of this article lives in? G-Town? Tenley Town? Foggy Bottom? Pretty much every other neighborhood is cop-less ... esp. the areas that need them most. Several shootings have occurred near 7th & Q NW and only a few evenings of police presence have been noticeable. I would think the Police know where to go ... it just seems that they are either a) not allowed to be there or b) choose not to get involved.
What's everyone's opinion on "foot patrols" and bike officers? I would think they would be quite effective in these areas since they would be seen by offenders and offenders would be seen by the police (not from a coolly A/C'd patrol car ... with it's windows down).
Actually, if I remember correctly from a thread the other week, Martin lives in SE, no?
Really Jaynuze? I'd say you need better ANC representation. I've seen cops all over 3rd and Decatur in Petworth. On bikes, in cars, with a big van and a flood light. At the local market. I've definitely seen a bigger presence. Everyone is really nice and friendly, though. Actively engaging the residents and not just doing the drive-by thing, too. Perhaps it's our Fourth District Station though too. They seem to be more on the ball than others.
I agree with Jaynuze. I work off MacArthur Boulevard and I see so many cops just sitting in their cars on MacArthur. I guess it's supposed to be a speed trap...but they already have traffic cameras on MacArthur. There has got to be a better way to distribute police throughout the city. I'm pretty sure the Palisades is not exactly a hot spot.
If someone could explain to me why it takes 20 minutes to get from the police station around 16th and V St. to 15th and New Hampshire Ave. NW that would be awesome. The NW shooting happened a block and a half from my apartment (I was outside walking my dog when I heard the shots, yelling, and three white dudes running from the scene) and it took the cops approximately 20 minutes to arrive to the scene.
Just so I'm clear: There is a police station literally 3-4 blocks from the shooting. And the shooting isn't even listed on the MPD website.
That said, I think one constructive thing the MPD can do is to be open about the situation we're in right now. Shootings are sadly very commonplace in this city, and as I hear about them from friends and acquaintances and then go to check the MPD website to read the reports, many times I notice there's no information to be found.
One of the best things, in my humble opinion, that the D.C. Police can do right now is to be more honest about crime that is going on, and be more open via the internet and news media so that citizens can help identify criminals involved in violent crime. When it takes 20 minutes for officers to arrive to the scene of a shooting that is so close to a police station, I really hope they have some psychic members of the X-Men on the payroll to figure out who the hell pulled the trigger.
Publish all information about a particular crime on the D.C. website. Let people post comments. Leverage the human desire to rat each other out. All I wanted to find out today was the name of the person that lives by my apartment that got killed after being shot in the back. And I can't even find that out.
Did the victim at 15th and New Hampshire die? Below is the only info I could find on the story from a posting on the U Street Yahoo Group. It also mentions a second shooting at 15th and U...
Dear Friends:
At approximately 1:45 AM, last night, two people were shot and wounded
during separate robberies near 15th and U. Both may involve the same
assailant.
One occurred near 2112 New Hampshire (at V), where a 24 year old
(visiting?) from Detroit was shot in the back during a robbery. He was
taken to the hospital and his wound is reportedly non life threatening.
Another occurred in the 1900 block of 15th Street (just below U) where,
again during a robbery, a woman was shot in the foot.
Precise times are not clear but it can be said that they occurred
minutes apart.
The assailant in both cases was described as an African American male,
35-40 years of age, about 6 feet, graying hair or graying beard,
obviously armed and dangerous. In the case of the male victim, there are
witnesses who successfully fled the scene.
Officers have been patrolling the area in an effort to apprehend the
suspect(s). People with information on
this should call 727-9099.
More information as it becomes available.
Bests Councilmember Jim Graham
The victim who was shot in the back at 15th and Vst did not die. I should know, I was one of the witnesses who fled the scene after the gunman turned the weapon on me and my friends and fired several times in my direction.
According to the detective who is in charge of the case, the second shooting at 15th and U was done by the same man. As far as I know, the victim had non-life threatening/minor injuries.
Moving to Silver Spring in a week and can't wait to get away from all this shit.
Have fun with the stroller-pushers.
I was mistaken then, as I was told by my landlord that the guy who was shot in the back did indeed die. Dave, I was the guy walking my dog on New Hampshire when you guys ran in to 2112. Glad to know you're okay.
Dave- You mentioned the Detective in charge of the case. Were you able to give a description of the guy to the MPD? My friend was one of the victims, and as far as I know, they haven't caught the guy yet, but think he may be responsible for other recent incidents in the area. Any information to catch this guy is critical- he is clearly a menace.
A-
Yeah I was able to give a description to the MPD. Of the 5 in the group there were 3 of us who were able to provide useful information to the MPD. The highlights were:
Black Male
5'8" - 5'10"
~170 LBS
Late 30s - early 40's
Salt and Pepper beard about half the length of his neck or longer
Medium length unkempt hair
Those were the details that are useful now. I doubt he is still wearing the black t-shirt w/rasta colors and jeans that he was