Sent: Thursday, October 6, 2016 10:14 PM
Subject: Crime Alert 5th District (PSA 501-508)
This
is an important message from the District of Columbia AlertDC system.
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Thursday, October 06, 2016
MPD alert: Robbery Hold Up Gun at 21:20 hours on the unit block of Adams St NW
Sent: Thursday, October 6, 2016 10:14 PM
Subject: Crime Alert 5th District (PSA 501-508)
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9 comments:
So have we all just grown numb and accustomed to these gun-related hold-ups? Are they now just part of life in our neighborhood?
Ditto. Why is this happening?
almost every day...
After the last string of robberies, McDuffie and Bowser did nothing. After Seth Rich was murdered, McDuffie came, repeated "his death will not be in vain" ad nauseum and still did nothing to address crime in the neighborhood because these armed robberies continue and are escalating.
I would like to quote a piercing comment from Scott's blog, which many of the listserv readers would be missing if they did not look at the web-site edition, so here it is, from Victor, in response to yet another recent "Robbery / Gun" posting from MPD's alert service: "So have we all just grown numb and accustomed to these gun-related hold-ups? Are they now just part of life in our neighborhood?"
Others replied "ditto," and "almost every day...", and 'Citizenalpha' commented poignantly: "After the last string of robberies, McDuffie and Bowser did nothing. After Seth Rich was murdered, McDuffie came, repeated "his death will not be in vain" ad nauseam and still did nothing to address crime in the neighborhood because these armed robberies continue and are escalating."
So I ask the Bloomingdale community, old and new alike: are we growing numb? - as Victor said. Are we perhaps growing dumb -- as Citizenalpha pointed out that our elected leaders, including sadly our Police, seem so deftly incompetent and incapable of stopping these --- potentially VERY violent --- crimes against us. Seth Rich's death is just one sad reminder of the potential lethality of these encounters Bloomingdale residents & visitors face on a daily basis.
And it doesn't have to be at night, so avoiding being held up isn't that easy: Note that the most recent W St. (unit block) armed robbery occurred with a vehicle and during daytime at 12:30 p.m. (!). So did the very violent attack against the contractor in Crispus Attucks park over the summer, where the victim was shot in the face, luckily only grazed, but that's pure luck. He could have been dead, blinded, paralyzed, if the bullet trajectors had been 1 degree off its lucky path.
Video cameras, an alert (and openly aware and friendly) citizenry, porch lights, working street lights, visible police patrols, etc. etc. are all very nice things to have and they sure do help. But they are clearly not enough. I see tons of cop cars sitting around and cruising the streets, alleys (appreciated!) etc. But while I applaud that effort, it is clearly not enough to curb the violent armed robberies.
I've said it many times to police and at community meetings, and I will say it again: the only way I see to capture these criminals is to have undercover officers walking the targeted areas (mostly in the north-of-Rhode Island Ave. part of Bloomingdale where the WASA construction still remains) as decoys, with headphones in, as a typical likely would-be target of a robbery. And then, if and when the armed robbers strike again (which can be only a matter of days based on recent months' history), they get nabbed.
Undercover. Sitting around in marked cars next to Red Hen don't do the trick.
Thank you.
PS: And can we please get some folks upset and riled up here, rather than numb, and complain to McDuffie and Bowser etc. to engender action on their part? I have no idea what our councilman is actually doing. Nothing it seems.
It looks like Bowser's and McDuffie's representatives are going to be at the next ANC Meeting on the 17th. I think it's important neighbors show up and make it clear that their bosses aren't doing their jobs.
Agreed - neighbors should attend ANC and Civic Association meetings and share their concerns.
I also think that we should reinstate PSA meetings, so that there is ample amount of time for everyone to speak up, especially those people who are primarily interested in public safety issues and not liquor licenses and BZA applications. MPD would know that they would need to come prepared to update the community with specifics.
PSA meetings, and some other ANC meetings, typically have a presentation of crime statistics from a ranking officer specific to that area, and not just generalized statements such as - we have noticed an uptick in street robberies, but overall crime is down.
It is obvious that if we do not ask, we will receive little more information than the 5D list, which does not provide the big picture.
That being said, I have noticed more cruisers in the neighborhood this week.
We need new representation--grounded, educated, candidates that want to represent all of us; not just their personal interests, personal friends & developer investors. Our candidates continue to be dead fish that get elected because the bar has been so low over the last decade & nobody with a track record, character & substance is running against the dead fish. McDuffie seemed acceptable when he first ran because we compared the fairly quiet unknown man to all the Council members that were caught up in scandals(our own Council Member at the time went to jail). I voted for him the 1st time he ran. But since then we see that, although he isn't getting thrown into jail, he isn't really representing us & is willing to lie to us. But, who can/will run against him. We are stuck with him for now--so it's important for everyone to apply as much pressure on him until we find a replacement. Anyone willing to step up to the plate? :)
I find it peculiar that we've seen multiple reports of drug-related arrests in houses. So while the neighborhood is burning up with violent robberies and attempted home invasions (mine has been targeted twice since July), we have our police force busting drug dealers in houses, none of whom are alleged to have done any violence. So ignore the crimes that are actually causing the citizenry to fear for their lives and spend your resources on the drug war.
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