Geovani, BACA President, had this to say on the MPD list serv. See below his thoughtful response to the value of neighborhood safety walks. To join safety walks in our area, email Geovani or meet on the corner of 1st and P St NW at 7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
All active neighborhood participation is essential to the prosperity of an area. Participation comes in many ways; neighborhood walks are just one of those ways.
The publicity stunt – The question was raised about these walks being publicity stunts for the walks organizers. I can only speak for myself, as I am not running, have sought nor seeking public office, not sure how publicity would help me caring for hospice patients.
Validity of the walks: Well, as cost avoidance and crime prevention are hard to measure as they never occur, it is easier to keep track of things that “happened” rather than avoided. There are several published studies and theories regarding these issues, I encourage folks to research those.
Purpose: I can only speak for the walks in my community. These walks are part of a larger strategy. During our walks, we focus on some of our hot zones for robberies, thefts from autos and burglaries. Community presence does discourage illegal behavior in public. We also make notes of vacant properties that need to be secured, identify graffiti that needs to be cleared and identify other problem areas. We share this information with the proper agencies. During our walks and when MPD officers joined us (last week was an example), we pointed out a vacant home where the doors have now been forced opened, the officer went in to assess the property. We identify illegal dumping and put in service request to have those items picked up. We identify burned out street lights that need to be changed and put in service request for those as well.
Results: We worked with Carl Thomas, Mayor’s Liaison and Leonard Thomas from the Council Member’s office to take care of all the graffiti. We worked with MPD to compile the “Top 20 Nuisance Vacant Property List” which DCRA is not addressing.
Proactive and Responsibility: I find this strategy to be a proactive one that helps unify the neighborhood. I personally believe in taking responsibility and accountability for our neighborhood.
Many of the actions that we do as part of our walk cannot be accomplished through the list serves as they require us to visit streets and parts of our neighborhood that we may not go through routinely. Though many of the actions are not MPD related, those are issues that contribute the deterioration of the neighborhood and encourage crime. To verify the validity of this statement, I encourage you to read The Tipping Point or research The Broken Windows Theory.
Have a safe and great day.
Geovani A. Bonilla
Bates Area Civic Association
Email: gbonilla@hospicemanagement.com
Bates Area Civic Association 