Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[jack]

For the PSA 302 meeting, I prepared the attached document, showing charts of robbery rates in the several area PSAs. Robberies in PSAs 302 (Columbia Heights North), 303 (Adams Morgan), and 304 (Columbia Heights South) are up modestly. There was a sharp decrease in robberies in PSAs 302 and 303 last winter, which makes the return to "normal" rates a relatively large increase. But only in 301 (Mount Pleasant) is there a drastic increase above historical robbery rates, to three times the average over the 2004-2005 period. Of course, that does merely lift our robbery rate to the rates already experienced by our adjacent PSAs.

The PSA 302 meeting was much more effective than our PSA 301 meetings. Instead of a formal, audience-question and MPD-answer session, the discussion was much more informal and inclusive, with substantial contributions from members of the audience, not just questions. A major topic was the shortage of recreational facilities for area youth, contributing to their getting into trouble on the streets. With juvenile robberies becoming an area plague, we've got to find ways to deal with our teenagers. One MPD officer provided a remarkable description of the division of Columbia Heights into three mutually hostile African-American gang areas, such that a recreational facility in one area would be inaccessible to gang members from other areas. One member of the audience, who works in the business of recreational facilities for inner cities, noted that it is not sufficient simply to build a facility and expect the youth to come; one has to actively work with troubled young men and change their mind-sets, just to get them into such activities.

This was "community policing" at its best: identify a problem, and work out ways to address the problem. A number of suggestions were provided for recreational sites.

Anything Columbia Heights does to mitigate its problem of troubled young men will also reduce our crime problems here. Much of the robbery, burglary, and theft in Mount Pleasant is done by men coming here from east of 16th Street.

-- Jack

[tjk]

Does merely lift our rates? So, I suppose we should be trying to surpass our adjoining PSAs in robberies?
I was at the PSA 301 meeting and I found a decent amount of give and take between the police and the audience. Community policing in Mt. Pleasant is apparent in programs like Operation Live Link the officers who came for a browse at the Ingleside Terrace yard sale today. It doesn't help a neighborhood when those elected to represent the community take an openly hostile and aggressive stand against a police force that is overall very engaged and community friendly.

[azzariti]

Jack, why do you insist on using Columbia Heights as Mt. Pleasant's standard of measurement? That's complacency at its best. Can we not set the bar higher?

[jack]

[brett]

[jack]