I am not personally convinced that "community walks" or "take back the corner" events result in any long-term success. The one thing they are really good at, however, is getting the MPD involved in the community and politicians to acknowledge that we have a problem. That being said, there will be a "Take Back the Corner" event on Wednesday December 5th, starting at 6:30 PM. Everyone will meet in the 300 block of Ingraham Street NW, at the small triangle-shaped park at the corner of Ingraham and Kansas Ave.
Personally, I want to start hearing from Muriel Bowser and other elected officials what legislative action will take place to curtail the violence in DC. Much of our violence is simply due to the fact that idiot thugs know they can get away with just about anything in DC. Hell, it's the same reason why I don't obey the traffic laws in DC as carefully as I do in MD or VA. VA and MD cops don't play, but in DC the cops disobey the laws right along with the ordinary citizens. I realize that this culture has to stop, but it's existed for so long in the DC Metro area that changing it will require significant legislative actions making jail sentences some of the toughest in the country.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Don't Shoot Me!
Lately it seems as though every other resident in DC besides me is packing a piece (for those less street-savvy people, this means carrying a gun). Unfortunately, these idiots who are carrying guns are beginning to have no qualms about using them anytime they feel the urge to shoot another person. Let's take a look at what has happened in NW DC in just the last few days. On Wednesday November 21st at 11:24 AM (yes, that is "AM"), an officer was patrolling in PSA 403 in the 500 block of Kennedy Street NW when he observed two individuals shooting at another person in the 700 block of Kennedy Street NW. The two suspects got away (not quite sure how) but left their pieces at the scene. A traffic enforcement officer was shot in the leg, sustaining only non-life threatening injuries. Just 200 feet away from this shooting, a small child, no more than 5 years old, was out riding his bike with his father. People were going about their day, opening stores along Kennedy Street, jogging, and walking to the bus stop. It is amazing that no one was killed.
On Saturday November 24th, three people were shot and wounded in Columbia Heights when gunfire broke out shortly before 9 PM in the 700 block of Harvard Street NW. According to the Washington Post, this area of the city has been troubled by violence in recent weeks. According to the Post, this shooting occurred in an area of the city where more than 100 gunshots have been fired since the beginning of October. At least seven people have been hit by gunfire in these shootings.
According to an email sent over the MPD-4D listserv, on November 25th at 5:15 AM, a resident in the 5600 block of 14th Street NW (exactly 7 blocks west of the Kennedy Street shooting), a person was shot once in the stomach.
This is seriously out of control. It feels as if a bunch of hoodlum vigilante's are running around DC and just shooting at people they have a beef with. I'd be fine if they consistently hit their target without hurting innocent people, but we all know it usually doesn't work out this way. What will often happen is a child will get shot when a bullet breaks through their living room window, hitting her while she's watching television. Only then will the public officials all come out and describe their various initiatives to prevent another tragedy from happening. There will be a public prayer vigil (people failing to realize that you can't pray your way out of these circumstances), some knee-jerk emergency crime legislation, and heightened media attention for 2 or 3 months. Then, our myopic memories get the best of us and we move on to something more important, like a baseball stadium.
On Saturday November 24th, three people were shot and wounded in Columbia Heights when gunfire broke out shortly before 9 PM in the 700 block of Harvard Street NW. According to the Washington Post, this area of the city has been troubled by violence in recent weeks. According to the Post, this shooting occurred in an area of the city where more than 100 gunshots have been fired since the beginning of October. At least seven people have been hit by gunfire in these shootings.
According to an email sent over the MPD-4D listserv, on November 25th at 5:15 AM, a resident in the 5600 block of 14th Street NW (exactly 7 blocks west of the Kennedy Street shooting), a person was shot once in the stomach.
This is seriously out of control. It feels as if a bunch of hoodlum vigilante's are running around DC and just shooting at people they have a beef with. I'd be fine if they consistently hit their target without hurting innocent people, but we all know it usually doesn't work out this way. What will often happen is a child will get shot when a bullet breaks through their living room window, hitting her while she's watching television. Only then will the public officials all come out and describe their various initiatives to prevent another tragedy from happening. There will be a public prayer vigil (people failing to realize that you can't pray your way out of these circumstances), some knee-jerk emergency crime legislation, and heightened media attention for 2 or 3 months. Then, our myopic memories get the best of us and we move on to something more important, like a baseball stadium.
Friday, November 16, 2007
DC Tax Scandal: DC's Corrupt History
The recent tax scandal here in DC has many of us questioning exactly who in our city government we can trust. The Washington Post recently reported that an esimated $31 million dollars has been embezzled by Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) employees. Most believe that this is a conservative estimate, and some have stated that we will never truly know how much money has been stolen. D.C.'s Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi was criticized yesterday in a public hearing as being "dismissive and adversarial" when an OTR employee reported concerns to him about possible fraud. But is this really news?
D.C. has a long history of corruption. Never really a full-flegged government and riddled with crime and poverty rates far above the national average, D.C.'s problems are multi-faceted. Part of the problem has always been D.C.'s small size - with such a small population, it is easy for everyone to know just about everyone in this town and have hands that reach a little too far. However, it was during the Barry administration that things really took a turn for the worse. In the book Dream City, the authors take a long, hard look at what happened in D.C. during Barry's reign, particularly how he helped those people who supported him. Barry's was notorious for giving highly unskilled people jobs that they really shouldn't have had, all for supporting Barry during his campaigns. In addition, nepotism became rampant and a lot of people simply would clock into some District building, receive a paycheck, and leave without ever having done any work. Some of these people still exist in agencies today, including DCRA and MRDDA to name a few.
However, this has been changing ever since Williams came to office. It is slow change, but we've been consistently moving in a positive direction for the past 10 years. Fenty has furthered this momentum by appointing people like Cathy Lanier to the MPD. The level of corruption in the MPD is probably the worst. There are some good officers, but there are also some who participate in crime. For example, some officers participate in drug dealing either directly, by buying and selling drugs themselves, or indirectly, by helping the dealers for a small fee. One HUGE problem is that too many officers are from DC neighborhoods. The people they should be arresting are cousins, friends, nephews, etc. The officers themselves are generally too young and inexperienced to know bettern. The officers who are good are not paid enough and have to deal with such bull shit from crappy commanders like Burton that they usually get out of the MPD as soon as they have the chance.
Chief Lanier has her work cut out for her, especially here in 4D, but she is taking the right steps. Getting rid of Burton was the important step. Now she must ensure that the captains and lieutenants are on the straight and narrow and can effectively manage the officers beneath them. In addition, she MUST improve the quality of life for the officers. This means better pay, better work schedules, fair compensation for court time, and eliminating the ability for criminals to make false and petty complaints against officers. In addition, Lanier needs to ensure that the bad neighborhoods get the experienced officers. Too often, officers with seniority opt to go to easier sections of town, leaving the younger and less experienced officers in the bad neighborhoods. There needs to be serious rentention efforts to keep the good officers while eliminating the ineffective ones and I really believe in a pay-for-performance system within the MPD - for every arrest that an officer makes which goes to trial and results in a conviction, that officer should receive a bonus of some sort. Currently, officers are disincentivized to make arrests. That needs to change.
D.C. has a long history of corruption. Never really a full-flegged government and riddled with crime and poverty rates far above the national average, D.C.'s problems are multi-faceted. Part of the problem has always been D.C.'s small size - with such a small population, it is easy for everyone to know just about everyone in this town and have hands that reach a little too far. However, it was during the Barry administration that things really took a turn for the worse. In the book Dream City, the authors take a long, hard look at what happened in D.C. during Barry's reign, particularly how he helped those people who supported him. Barry's was notorious for giving highly unskilled people jobs that they really shouldn't have had, all for supporting Barry during his campaigns. In addition, nepotism became rampant and a lot of people simply would clock into some District building, receive a paycheck, and leave without ever having done any work. Some of these people still exist in agencies today, including DCRA and MRDDA to name a few.
However, this has been changing ever since Williams came to office. It is slow change, but we've been consistently moving in a positive direction for the past 10 years. Fenty has furthered this momentum by appointing people like Cathy Lanier to the MPD. The level of corruption in the MPD is probably the worst. There are some good officers, but there are also some who participate in crime. For example, some officers participate in drug dealing either directly, by buying and selling drugs themselves, or indirectly, by helping the dealers for a small fee. One HUGE problem is that too many officers are from DC neighborhoods. The people they should be arresting are cousins, friends, nephews, etc. The officers themselves are generally too young and inexperienced to know bettern. The officers who are good are not paid enough and have to deal with such bull shit from crappy commanders like Burton that they usually get out of the MPD as soon as they have the chance.
Chief Lanier has her work cut out for her, especially here in 4D, but she is taking the right steps. Getting rid of Burton was the important step. Now she must ensure that the captains and lieutenants are on the straight and narrow and can effectively manage the officers beneath them. In addition, she MUST improve the quality of life for the officers. This means better pay, better work schedules, fair compensation for court time, and eliminating the ability for criminals to make false and petty complaints against officers. In addition, Lanier needs to ensure that the bad neighborhoods get the experienced officers. Too often, officers with seniority opt to go to easier sections of town, leaving the younger and less experienced officers in the bad neighborhoods. There needs to be serious rentention efforts to keep the good officers while eliminating the ineffective ones and I really believe in a pay-for-performance system within the MPD - for every arrest that an officer makes which goes to trial and results in a conviction, that officer should receive a bonus of some sort. Currently, officers are disincentivized to make arrests. That needs to change.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Community Walk
Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser loves the community walk. This evening, a community walk will be held starting from the Takoma Metro station at 5:45. Apparently, Chief Lanier is coming along as well. This will be followed by a meeting at 6:30 at the Takoma Village Cohousing to discuss a community action plan.
Crime is rampant all over 4D. The crime stats for 4D in October show a consistent rise in crimes like burglary, robbery, assault with deadly weapons, and stolen autos. This is very disconcerting because, as any Washingtonian knows, winter usually brings a decrease in crime. So, to address this, we're doing a community walk. Yeah, that makes sense.
What we really need is to address the piss-poor laws in this city. For example, I see guys get busted for drugs who are then released onto our streets the next day. The DC jail is a revolving door. And people arrested for all sorts of things have discovered that all they have to do is slap a complaint against the arresting officer and their case can get thrown out of court! The people in this city have zero respect for law enforcement. They have no respect for the law, and they have no respect for the personal safety of others. My dog is more conscientious of others' safety than are most of the thugs roaming my block. I was never a huge fan of the death penalty, but I'm beginning to realize that all the other options (rehabilitation, short jail sentences, etc) are just not working.
Crime is rampant all over 4D. The crime stats for 4D in October show a consistent rise in crimes like burglary, robbery, assault with deadly weapons, and stolen autos. This is very disconcerting because, as any Washingtonian knows, winter usually brings a decrease in crime. So, to address this, we're doing a community walk. Yeah, that makes sense.
What we really need is to address the piss-poor laws in this city. For example, I see guys get busted for drugs who are then released onto our streets the next day. The DC jail is a revolving door. And people arrested for all sorts of things have discovered that all they have to do is slap a complaint against the arresting officer and their case can get thrown out of court! The people in this city have zero respect for law enforcement. They have no respect for the law, and they have no respect for the personal safety of others. My dog is more conscientious of others' safety than are most of the thugs roaming my block. I was never a huge fan of the death penalty, but I'm beginning to realize that all the other options (rehabilitation, short jail sentences, etc) are just not working.
Yesterday, Chief Lanier announced the temporary reassignment of Cmdr. Hilton Burton, the leader of the Fourth District. Cmdr. Burton was recently accused of sending inappropriate messages via his MPD issued cell phone and using his DC government email account to someone he was having an affair with. These allegations were reported on again last night on channel 7, and while Cmdr. Burton has denied these accusations, it seems pretty clear that he is on his way out. But let's face it - the Fourth police district has had some really bad press lately. First, it was Lt. Brown's gun going missing and then turning up at at crime scene. Burton stuck up for her initially, but she was still reassigned after allegations came out that she was trying to get officers to falsify reports about what had actually happened to her gun. Then, just a few weeks ago, a 4D police sergeant's home was raided in a drug bust. Three people in Sgt. Angela Sander's home were placed under arrest. Yes, 4D is ripe with trouble these days. Every time we turn around, it just keeps getting better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
