An intriguing update from this morning’s Examiner: the MPD has taken action in the story of local blogger Amber over at Prettier than Napoleon we brought to you last week. If you’ll recall, Amber blogged about the experience of her friend, who called the police after an attempted burglary at her home. Despite the responding officers having then found the suspects and the victim being able to identify them, the officers refused to arrest the…

Few things are less reassuring about the state of crime and degree of safety we have in this town than police officers who can’t be bothered to learn basic law. Blogger Amber at Prettier than Napoleon reports a story we sincerely hope is not true. Her friend, she says, was home when two men attempted to break into her house. Apparently her presence made them rethink their efforts, but they remained nearby in an alley…

We couldn’t help but notice these odd signs popping up on the windows of businesses all along the U Street Corridor in the last month. “This Business is Being Monitored by the U Street Sheriff’s Department” sounds a bit like a smart-alecky joke. Obviously the District has no sheriff’s department at all, let alone one that only serves U Street. So what exactly are these signs? We could imagine a business version of “Beware of…

D.C.’s new police chief, Cathy Lanier, is busy woman. Last night she told the standing room only crowd at the ANC2F meeting, which serves Logan Circle, some of Shaw, and nearby areas, that she had three meetings with community groups between 6 and 9 p.m. that night. Both frank and funny, the chief answered questions from locals and the ANC commissioners, and frequently cited the need for more police officers. She also discussed increased police…

The Third Police District has a crime problem, and whatever action the MPD has taken so far, it has not improved the situation. We noted last month that crime in that District was trending in a notably different direction from the rest of the city, and in May, that outlying trend continued to distinguish itself. That area of the city recorded five sexual assaults in May while burglaries were up 25 percent over the same…

It wasn’t long ago that we were concerned about a crime resurgence in the District, or a troubling increase in Washington homicides. But while a number of high profile crimes, including some well-publicized Northwest murders, have fueled anxiety among some D.C. residents, crime statistics from the MPD continue to indicate that 2006 could be a banner year for crime reduction in the city. Through today, there have been 48 homicides in the District in 2006,…

Almost a month ago we reported on a incident where a cyclist riding up 11th Street was hit by a brick thrown from an overlooking building. The City Paper followed up on the story last week, reporting on similar incidents throughout Columbia Heights. Today we find that the news has been serious enough to warrant a response from Council-member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who represents the residents of the area in which the incidents occured….

We know, we know, we’ll get it out of the way first — we cover Borf too much, Borf sucks, he’s a tagger without talent, we’re “crackers” for even writing about him, etc, etc, etc. Believe us, we’ve heard it all. Over and over. And over. But since we seem to have become the clearinghouse for all things Borf, we felt a responsibility to post this email from a loyal reader who tipped us off…