Almost a month into the District’s crime emergency, a stricter curfew is in place, surveillance cameras are being installed, and more police are working longer hours on city streets. But is the additional show of force being efficiently applied? Maybe not.

One resident explained their grief with the beefed up police presence in today’s edition of D.C. Watch’s online newsletter, The Mail. Describing a recent experience on U Street, she wrote:

By now, if you patronize any of the businesses on the U Street corridor you have noticed the exorbitant presence of the Metropolitan Police Department in the last week or so. Yes, DC’s finest abound on U Street. Well, at least they are en masse at the intersection of 12th and U Streets, the rest of it be damned. And it isn’t because of the donuts and hot dogs at the corner Seven-Eleven either, though a few of the boys in blue appear to ingest more than their share of both. I am a regular patron of at least three establishments at the intersection of 12th and U Streets. Last Saturday, August 12, while dining at The Islander Caribbean Restaurant, a number of patrons and I set in wide-eyed amazement as MPD practically barricaded the intersection. They stopping practically every car that crossed the intersection, impacting the flow of traffic, and holding the very people they are hired to protect hostage for no given reason.

There are truly areas in the city that warrant this level of police activity, but the “hot spots” are deemed so by sporadic incidents of crime that have impacted on a chosen few, while high crime areas that are affected by even more crimes go practically unnoticed. There is a lot more to be leery of in far more places than at the intersection of Twelfth and U Streets. Could Chief Ramsey spare a few of the U Street detail where crime is a reality, instead of deploying them at the doorsteps of hardworking business owners who rely on customers not police presence to earn a living? It gives rise to an important question, were they there to protect or to harass?

It’s like we’ve argued in the past — it’s not the amount of police officers you have, it’s how you use them. Has anyone — U Street residents and patrons especially — noticed this amped up deployment? Does it seem effective, or it overkill? Everyone else — have you seen an increased police presence in your neighborhood? Comment away.