From a resident who lives near this area:
I was wondering if you might pass this on to the community so other folks nearby can keep their eyes out for similar activity and report to the police - especially considering this happened at 9am on a Sunday morning!
Easter Sunday, around 9:00am on the Unit Block of U Street, I was outside and noticed an out-of-place-looking white couple digging through an older red pickup truck. When I went inside, I pointed them out to my husband and we kept our eye on them. After about 15-20 minutes my husband saw them sitting in their truck, smoking something through a little glass tube. At that point I called the police and described what we`d seen and gave a description of the car. About 10 minutes later a cop car drove by but didn`t stop. The couple immediately drove off. Later, we were outside and found a tiny ziplock bag next to where the truck had been parked. I was glad the couple left, and encouraged that the police responded to the call but disappointed that the police didn`t take any action. It seems possible that the source of the drugs is nearby. This is not the first time we`ve noticed suspicious drug-related activity, though it is the first time we`ve seen obvious drug use.
What`s the best way to work/communicate with the police to address such activity?
There has also been a lot of drug dealing in the evening going on at 1st and U st NW. Mostly at eh NE corner. This may be part of what your seeing going on on the unit block of U st. Call 911 whenever you see any sort of suspisous behavior.In the 10-15 minutes you waited to call the police they could have gotten there and made an arrest. I would also contact the commander about the fact that a suspisous vehicle report was called in but his officers didn't stop to see what was going on.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this information and for keeping an eye on the block.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to communicate your information has two steps. First, as you did, call 911. That is an important way to get some action and to create an official record. Second, please e-mail whatever details you see (physical descriptions, times of day, vehicles, activities that you are concerned about, etc.) to either Mark Mueller (the new ANC: anc5c04@gmail.com) or to me. I still have extensive contacts with MPD (just this morning I set up a meeting with the Cmdr. about a neighborhood issue). My method is to send the info I get from residents to the Cmdr directly. I do that protecting your confidentiality, revealing no names, addresses, or e-mail addresses of people who write to me (unless they ask me to send that info, too). By sending the info to the Cmdr., we get the need more quickly in the hands of the right people at MPD.
Have a great day,
John
John T. Salatti
Vice President, Bloomingdale Civic Association
(202) 986-2592
John.Salatti@gmail.com
"Together, Building a Better Bloomingdale"
John,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice--we have had kids stashing drugs in Crispus Attacks and the surrounding area a lot over the past week--and my contractor had two cell phones stolen brazenly out of his truck this week in broad daylight while he was in the process of unloading. We called the police, but the kids were gone--the police urged us to call when we saw drug sales or stashing happening. They are using a small vacant area behind a house on V Street for stashing drugs and also left a stolen bike there.
My other advice, clearly, is don't leave anything of value in your car at all--and keep it locked even if you are just gone for a short time.
See this comment from a household on the unit block of U Street NW:
ReplyDeleteWe have seen the similar activity for just a few minutes a few times - not enough time to call the police as they would just leave quickly.
The problem person - the drug dealer - either lives in our neighborhood, but on a different street or knows the neighborhood well. I have seen the guy come out of the back alley near Crispus Attucks Park closer to North Capitol onto U, deliver something in a packet to a redneck couple in a U-haul truck and run back into the alley (I was walking my dog early in the morning and without the cell, so by the time I got home, everyone was gone). We exchanged nasty looks with the drug dealer, but that was all of the exchange I was willing to get into. The other couple of times we saw the white couple or just a white man in front of our house -- on an early Sunday morning. We did not see the deliverer of goods at that time, but they were clearly high and left as soon as I would come out. This either did not happen often or they did it way too early in the morning for anyone to see, but I can say that it sounds familiar. I hope the police can respond quickly, and drug dealing/using stops on an otherwise beautiful U street.