MPD, ANC and I hear many residents complain about crime and often say “what are we going to do about it?”. Yet, when we ask our neighbors to come out and do something about it, amazingly everyone is too busy. If we are serious about: improving our neighborhood, reducing crime, and making this an attractive area for economic development an hour a week too much to ask?
During this evening walk, we noticed a suspicious juvenile walking east from the 100 block of P ST NW. His behavior was suspicious as he was scouting the area, looking around, went to the unit block of P ST, scouted that around, and was looking around and trying to hide from our sight. When he noticed we were watching him, he attempted to go into the convenience store but came right out. He took off through the alley behind the unit block of Bates ST so we followed. He saw us and went to hang around ZZ Pizza. We continue to walk his way so we headed north on N. Capitol ST NW and into Johnson Liquors. I followed inside Johnsons Liquor Store and bought a lottery ticket (only those that showed up to walk will get some $ when I win). He left the store as soon as I walked in and crossed Florida Avenue and headed north on N. Capitol ST NW towards R ST.
We called 911 as he was behaving as he was looking to either break into a vehicle or a home depending on which presented an opportunity. He was also not from the neighborhood and obviously avoiding being seen.
This may not seem as such a big deal, unless we prevented him from breaking into a car or burglarizing a home. So ask yourself, could an hour a week walking around in nice weather prevent a crime?
So I ask that we stop complaining and expecting MPD and everyone else to solve our problems and take some ownership.
With much tough love –
Geovani
Bates Area Civic Association 