Tuesday, April 29, 2003

FW: Draft: Summary of April Dupont Public Safety Committee

Below is a draft of a summary of various Dupont Public Safety
developments. I will do some more work on it, but if you had any input
I'd be appreciative.


Citizen's Advisory Council - The MPD 3rd District CAC is in the throws
of a re-organization. Commander Pendergast got pressure from the Chief
to re-invigorate this body. The few people who had been active in the
CAC are resisting the resulting effort to reform the by-laws. The
By-Laws Committee is meeting April 30th at 7:30 in Commander
Pendergast's conference room. The Elections committee will meet right
after that since much of their action is dependent on the outcome of the
by-law reform. Any participation in this process would be helpful,
because the "old guard" is trying do such things as insure that only
people who have been CAC members since last June can vote in the
election for officers. If it turns out that new members will be allowed
to vote, we would appreciate people joining the CAC to help shake thinks
up.

Restructuring PSA and District borders - There have been some
developments in the pending restructuring of PSA and District borders.
There will be a meeting on May 1st at 7:00 in 3D to present citizen's
input on this to the Commander. On May 10th at the Crime Forum II the
Chief's plan will be made public. MPD hopes to implement the plan in
September. We would like feedback on what PSA changes you would like to
have proposed. It is not even certain that Dupont will remain in the 3rd
District. Dupont presently is represented by 3 districts and 9 PSAs.
That should be one district and one to three PSAs. This may be a
significant change in our protective services and may warrant heavy
citizen participation.

Drug Dealing in lower Dupont - Much of the April meeting was devoted to
the problem of approximately 20 drug dealers doing business at night in
the area between O Street and 20th to M and 18th. We would have thought
that 2 of these dealers getting shot by another dealer in January would
have spurned police action. MPD, US Park Police, and the Assistant US
Attorney assure that there is pending action. (This area is in 3
different PSAs and 2 Districts).

Crime Forum II - Building Partnerships for Safe Neighborhoods. Saturday,
May 10th 8:30 am to 1:00 pm at Scripture Cathedral 810 O Street NW.

Neighborhood Watch - Orange Hat Patrol Mobilization Training. Saturday
June 7th. We'd like a strong group of people from Dupont Circle to show
up. After this training, we will move on trying to get neighborhood foot
patrols that will report their sightings of illicit activity to the
police and to organize a block captain system to facilitate public
safety and emergency preparedness.

Community Policing Communications - The Commander assures us that a new
phone system has been authorized and budgeted for 3D.

911 reform - The five 911 call attendants who are being held accountable
for the slow response to the fatal 21st St. January fire have been
served with notice of intent of adverse action. That means the
administrative process of firing them has begun. Thanks to everyone who
kept up the pressure for action on this issue.

Crime Reports - We are becoming increasingly concerned with the accuracy
and relevance of the oft-quoted MPD crime statistics. If anyone
(particularly someone with a background in statistical analysis) could
volunteer to take on the task of critiquing these numbers, we would be
much appreciative.

Plans to change ANC meeting presentation to have only the Public Safety
Committee Co-Chair give a report to the ANC unless there is a large
issue have been put in motion. The success of this change will be
dependent on the Co-Chair getting good information from the 3D brass.

Attendance and forward plans of the Dupont Public Safety Meetings - We
discussed whether we'll need to have a regular meeting if communication
with the citizenry can be improved though re-vitalizing the CAC and
through building better communications models (using the coming voice
mail, web sites, and email more efficiently). If more concerned
citizen's turned out for the meetings we would be better able to
pressure for reform. We're not happy with the job the police are doing
and don't think you should be either. There is much too much crime in
our neighborhood.


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