MPD Community Meeting; Recent Home Invasions

Cary has posted a very good summary of the PSA 308 community meeting on the Mt. Vernon Square blog. Just a couple of comments on the meeting:

• I was a little disappointed to hear that the Adopt-a-Block program won't apply to every block. Lt. Neal said there weren't enough officers to go around, so if your block isn't considered a "bad" block, yours may not get adopted. I think one of the benefits of this program is that people would have an officer whom they know and can contact without going through the full system. Couldn't an officer adopt more than one block?
• Some of the frustration that residents feel about police response appears to stem from the way the 911 system is set up, rather than lack of responsiveness by officers. Officer Barnes noted that the system is not run by the police department and they can't respond until the call gets assigned to someone. The Mayor's community outreach person, Sean Howard, was at the meeting and said this problem would be examined. One resident said she calls 311 (the non-emergency number) and gets better response than from 911. On the other hand, I've heard other people say they got no response from 311, so who knows.
• The police seem to have a pretty good understanding of the dynamics of the gang shootings and at least have some plans for dealing with them. The description of what happens to juveniles who are detained was very informative, but not exactly reassuring.
• Oh, and no one screamed or shouted at anyone during the meeting. A refreshing change.

At the end of the meeting Marco Santiago noted that there has been a series of home invasions in the general area recently. Here's the police advisory on that:

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Burglary Task Force is investigating a series of burglaries and robberies that have occurred in occupied premises. The Metropolitan Police Department also seeks the public’s assistance in attempting to locate and identify suspects possibly responsible for these crimes.

At approximately 7:57 p.m. on Wednesday, December 27, 2006, a lone male, armed with a handgun, entered a home, through an unlocked back door, in the 1800 block of 4^th Street, N.W. Once inside he robbed the occupants of a camera, jewelry, cell phone, blackberry and a handbag. There were no reported injuries. The suspect in this case is described as a black male, 25 to 35-year-old , 6’2” tall, 180 to 185 pounds with a medium complexion. He was wearing dark clothing and armed with a handbag. [Handgun?]

At approximately 9:15 p.m. on Friday, December 29, 2006, two subjects, one armed with a handgun, entered a home, through an unlocked front door, in the 1500 block of Vermont Avenue, N.W. Once inside they tied up the occupant before taking a wallet with cash and credit cards, two cameras, cell phone and keys to a yellow Hummer. The suspects took the Hummer but abandoned it at 12^th a and Streets N.W. There were no reported injuries. The first suspect in this case is only described as a male approximately 6’2” tall, wearing a mask, dark clothing and armed with a handgun. The second suspect is only described as possibly being a female, approximately 5’3” tall and wearing a mask and dark clothing.

The cases are under investigation by detectives from the department’s Third District and department’s Burglary Task Force Unit. A nyone with information about this case is asked to cal police at 202-727-9099. The department currently offers a reward of up to TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any robbery committed in the District of Columbia.

Also, see Jennifer's comment on the previous post about another incident on Warner Street that seems to fit this description.