Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[Julia]

At about 9pm last night, I was on my front porch. A woman who had been walking in the street asked me if I saw what a man standing against a car in front of my neighbors house was doing and that I better watch out for him. Leave it to say that this man was exposing himself but in a more active way (if you know what I mean).

What's disappointing was the emergency operator's response when I immediately called the incident in. She said, with a good deal of scepticism/disbellief, "You're telling me he was actually standing in front of your house and doing that???" I told her he was actually in front of the house next door and, yes, I was not lying. She then asked if anyone else saw him and I said yes, there was a woman walking down the street. It was only at that point she seemed to treat the issue seriously. She told me that they'd send a patrol car out to survey the area - but she still sounded rather dismissive. As I never did see any patrol cars, I wonder if she even put the report into the system. I am going to try to call to get a report # to make sure that she didn't completely blow me off.

As I just saw an article in the Post this week about women runners being attacked in Rock Creek that mentions those committing indecent exposure often become sex offenders as they notch up they're criminal behavior, I am quite upset with this who experience, especially the dismissive behavior of the emergency services.

[Julia]

I just confirmed that the dispatcher did blow me off. There is no record in the system of my report. Of course, I was quite upset at the time and didn't catch her operator number. However, I know that she could be identified by the taped recordings of 911 calls.

How do I pursue an official complaint against this operator? This is intolerable and I want to know some action will be taken.

[Dominic Sale]

Follow up on this. i agree that it is unacceptable and it will only change if they're caught in the act. You may even want to consider contacting a pressure group a la N.O.W. who would take up your cause too. I earlier posted on this site about a multiple theft from auto that my girlfriend was a victim of, that was never reported either even though there were multiple calls to the dispatcher. I'll be interested in seeing how it turns out for you.

[OfcTKMattingly]

Julia: Thank you for sending me a copy of your letter to Councilmember Graham and the Mayor. I did send you a follow-up via email. I am also looking into the matter for you. Ofc. TK Mattingly

[Julia]

I appreciate Ofc Mattingly's attention on this.

(Dominic, you'll appreciate this...) I have sent letters to the mayor, deputy mayor for public safety, and the police chief. I forwarded a copy of that letter to Councilmember Graham (who responded that his office will also send a letter to Chief Ramsey), Captain Solberg (who confirmed that no report had been put in the system), Ofc Mattingly (who asked I contact him personally if I see the man again or need any assistance), and my ANC rep (who I'll keep informed about any responses). I also forwarded copies of the letters to the DC Rape Crisis Center, whom I'd contacted for advice on how to address the situation.

I have been pleased that all these folks have agreed this is a serious situation that needs to be addressed.

I was disappointed at the response from the department immediately responsible for 9-1-1 dispatchers. I initiated a complaint on Friday and was told it would get moving. When I called on Monday, I found out that not only had no one even looked at my complaint but the section commander responsible for processing it was out on sick leave and nothing would happen until she returned. I spoke to the second in charge of the section who treated this with the typical shoulder-shrug response of I-can't-do-anything-you'll-have-to-wait-until-she-returns-and-deems-the-issue-important-enough-to-look-into, a response that is all to common in DC government/civic services. If left up to this process, I don't think anything would ever be addressed about this incident. I'm hoping that my letter writing campaign gets enough attention to ensure these people are held accountable.

Though the complaint process doesn't seem too effective, I encourage anyone else who feels their reports are not being registered to initiate a complaint - if only to ensure there is a record of the dispatcher's action. Its not up to the dispatcher to decide if your issue is not worthy of reporting.

My primary issue with this is accountability. If we don't demand the city to be accountable to the citizens, we are part of the problem. Yeah, I'm sure I'll get tired of caring this flag but this incident has given me enough energy to do it for now.

[Dominic Sale]

Good show Julia!

Keep carrying that flag sister and keep taking it to the next step up if you need to. Also, try to find out how deep this problem goes. Based on all indications, it's my feeling that the non-recording of reported crimes is a public relations tinderbox waiting to blow for this administration. You know who would really shake things up? Fox News. Those guys are always looking for dirt to dig up and this is potentially very juicy stuff.

Keep it up. Eventually you'll hit the right nerve and get what you want and deserve. If you need any help, let me know. I'm looking for any way to get involved.

[Julia]

This is an update…
I've received a copy of Chief Ramsey's response letter to Jim G. saying an inspector was assigned. I also have been speaking directly with the supervisor (Ms Robinson) of the shift that was on when I called. She promised to listen to the tapes from that evening to identify the operator. She called back a week or so ago and told me she had good news and bad news. The bad news was that the tapes she listened to were from a very small window (8:50 to 9:10) and my call was not on the 14 or so she listened to (it almost seemed like the implication was that I really had not called) so there was no way to identify the operator. The good news was that they would do some training. I told her that I found that totally unacceptable since I wanted to ensure that the operator was held accountable. I asked her to put what she had just told me into a letter to me and that I would respond via letter, insisting that the operator be identified and that there be accountability for these negligent actions. Let's just say that I haven't received her letter. I'll probably follow up again in a couple weeks since the longer this goes on, the more reprehensible I find it.

On another note, NPR had a segment just this morning (May 31st) about DC's 911/311 center. Other cities have separate operators to handle the emergency and non-emergency calls. DC doesn't - all 911, 311, and even 727-1000 go into the same call center. Plus, their system does not identify the call as emergency, non-emergency, or administrative. So, the result is that all calls are competing. This is a serious system design failure in DC Emergency Management Agency and I'm glad it got some coverage on NPR...

Other folks (Dominic and Marika to name a couple) report the same problem as you can see on this forum. On the Columbia Hgts Yahoo group, there have been more reports and Jim Graham has posted an email he recently sent to Chief Ramsey about all these reports in a macro context.

- Julia