MPD and gun violence

[Anonymous]

Turns out that 40% of DC's gun violence happens in just 2% of the city. And I suspect a lot of the other gun violence outside of this area relates back to it in some way. MPD should be putting significant all-hands resources into cameras/surveillance/investigative/undercover work to geographically root this out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/22/shooting-increase-dc-gun-violence/

[Anonymous]

I gotta be honest, I have lived in the suburbs of DC for 15 years and go in to eat dinner, visit museums and see concerts 2-3x per week (pre-covid, anyway), and I never knew the stuff on the other side of the anacostia river was still DC. I thought it was Maryland, kind of like how the other side of the Potomac is Arlington/McLean. You learn something new every day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Turns out that 40% of DC's gun violence happens in just 2% of the city. And I suspect a lot of the other gun violence outside of this area relates back to it in some way. MPD should be putting significant all-hands resources into cameras/surveillance/investigative/undercover work to geographically root this out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/22/shooting-increase-dc-gun-violence/

Putting a disproportionate amount of police resources into 2% of the city will immediately get you branded as a racist.

[Anonymous]

Another article. Sad that people shoot up their own neighborhoods like this.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/22/shooting-increase-dc-gun-violence/?utm_campaign=wp_afternoon_buzz&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_buzz&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3435b80%2F60f9c4c79d2fda945a1229dc%2F59777809ade4e26514c2a070%2F8%2F43%2F60f9c4c79d2fda945a1229dc

[Anonymous]

What we need is more resources put into violence interruption. I live in a neighborhood where people shoot at each other. I appreciate that the police are doing the best they can but they show up after the shots are fired. And they can't do much to investigate and find the perpetrators because people in the neighborhood don't trust them to keep them save. Case in point - a young woman clammed up on the witness stand about a murder she'd seen in my neighborhood because she was apparently afraid that the guy on trial would kill her for testifying. We need more folks working pro-actively who are trusted in the neighborhood to help prevent shootings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What we need is more resources put into violence interruption. I live in a neighborhood where people shoot at each other. I appreciate that the police are doing the best they can but they show up after the shots are fired. And they can't do much to investigate and find the perpetrators because people in the neighborhood don't trust them to keep them save. Case in point - a young woman clammed up on the witness stand about a murder she'd seen in my neighborhood because she was apparently afraid that the guy on trial would kill her for testifying. We need more folks working pro-actively who are trusted in the neighborhood to help prevent shootings.

Yes. David Simon and the Wire told us all about this almost 20 years ago. What we need is:

To solve violent crime and punish the perpetrators. That's what deters crime. To do that, we need:

Police that are trusted in the community. That walk a beat. That know everyone and that people trust.

How many cops do you know by name? That know you? If zero, that's the problem. Cops should be walking a beat and chatting with citizens all the time. Not just showing up after shots are fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What we need is more resources put into violence interruption. I live in a neighborhood where people shoot at each other. I appreciate that the police are doing the best they can but they show up after the shots are fired. And they can't do much to investigate and find the perpetrators because people in the neighborhood don't trust them to keep them save. Case in point - a young woman clammed up on the witness stand about a murder she'd seen in my neighborhood because she was apparently afraid that the guy on trial would kill her for testifying. We need more folks working pro-actively who are trusted in the neighborhood to help prevent shootings.

PP again. Here's a link to a WaPo article about this trial which reflects some of the difficult problems we face in this neighborhood. The police are doing their best but when people don't feel safe they're not going to stand up for what is right.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/dc-man-found-not-guilty-in-fatal-shooting-of-16-year-old-girl/2019/02/08/868ee59a-2bef-11e9-984d-9b8fba003e81_story.html

[Anonymous]

On the other hand, the guy who actually goes to his post and investigates who's burglarizing the homes, at the end of the month maybe he’s made one arrest. It may be the right arrest and one that makes his post safer, but he's going to court one day and he's out in two hours. So you fail to reward the cop who actually does police work. But worse, it’s time to make new sergeants or lieutenants, and so you look at the computer and say: Who's doing the most work? And they say, man, this guy had 80 arrests last month, and this other guy’s only got one. Who do you think gets made sergeant? And then who trains the next generation of cops in how not to do police work? I’ve just described for you the culture of the Baltimore police department amid the deluge of the drug war, where actual investigation goes unrewarded and where rounding up bodies for street dealing, drug possession, loitering such – the easiest and most self-evident arrests a cop can make – is nonetheless the path to enlightenment and promotion and some additional pay. That’s what the drug war built, and that’s what Martin O’Malley affirmed when he sent so much of inner city Baltimore into the police wagons on a regular basis.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

[Anonymous]

If you are a DC citizen and you don't know the name of the cop on the beat that includes your house – that is the problem. Cops doing real police work talk to citizens and get to know them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

On the other hand, the guy who actually goes to his post and investigates who's burglarizing the homes, at the end of the month maybe he’s made one arrest. It may be the right arrest and one that makes his post safer, but he's going to court one day and he's out in two hours. So you fail to reward the cop who actually does police work. But worse, it’s time to make new sergeants or lieutenants, and so you look at the computer and say: Who's doing the most work? And they say, man, this guy had 80 arrests last month, and this other guy’s only got one. Who do you think gets made sergeant? And then who trains the next generation of cops in how not to do police work? I’ve just described for you the culture of the Baltimore police department amid the deluge of the drug war, where actual investigation goes unrewarded and where rounding up bodies for street dealing, drug possession, loitering such – the easiest and most self-evident arrests a cop can make – is nonetheless the path to enlightenment and promotion and some additional pay. That’s what the drug war built, and that’s what Martin O’Malley affirmed when he sent so much of inner city Baltimore into the police wagons on a regular basis.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

Measuring arrests and rewarding for # of arrests is the exact opposite of measuring protection. That means the cops get rewarded for more criminal acts. It actually motivates cops to want more crime so that they can make more arrests.

The primary measurement should be number of reported violent crimes in the patrolled area relative to the total number of people relative to the historical crime rate. The target should be as low a number as possible and / or a downward trend. Also, the reporting of the crime must be done in a two step process: 1) by the officer and 2) independently by the victim (or related to victim). This prevents under-reporting by the officer to game the system. I am sure it is not that simple, but you get the general idea. Reward the absence of crime, not the abundance / prosecution of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turns out that 40% of DC's gun violence happens in just 2% of the city. And I suspect a lot of the other gun violence outside of this area relates back to it in some way. MPD should be putting significant all-hands resources into cameras/surveillance/investigative/undercover work to geographically root this out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/22/shooting-increase-dc-gun-violence/

Putting a disproportionate amount of police resources into 2% of the city will immediately get you branded as a racist.

Bogus argument for whoever wants to make it. It's crime numbers, not people numbers. And it's nowhere near as bad in other predominantly black parts of DC.

It's 40% of the city's gun crime in that 2% portion of DC. And accordingly, not until *MORE THAN 40% of MPD* is policing that 2% area of DC will it be "disproportionate."

Anyone making a "that's racism" complaint is arguing in bad faith.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

On the other hand, the guy who actually goes to his post and investigates who's burglarizing the homes, at the end of the month maybe he’s made one arrest. It may be the right arrest and one that makes his post safer, but he's going to court one day and he's out in two hours. So you fail to reward the cop who actually does police work. But worse, it’s time to make new sergeants or lieutenants, and so you look at the computer and say: Who's doing the most work? And they say, man, this guy had 80 arrests last month, and this other guy’s only got one. Who do you think gets made sergeant? And then who trains the next generation of cops in how not to do police work? I’ve just described for you the culture of the Baltimore police department amid the deluge of the drug war, where actual investigation goes unrewarded and where rounding up bodies for street dealing, drug possession, loitering such – the easiest and most self-evident arrests a cop can make – is nonetheless the path to enlightenment and promotion and some additional pay. That’s what the drug war built, and that’s what Martin O’Malley affirmed when he sent so much of inner city Baltimore into the police wagons on a regular basis.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

MPD promotes (through the rank of Captain) based on a written and oral test only. Candidates are rank ordered based on their scores and then promotions are done in batches. Promotions have nothing to do with how many arrests an officer makes, how effective an officer/detective they are, or the strength of their management skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

On the other hand, the guy who actually goes to his post and investigates who's burglarizing the homes, at the end of the month maybe he’s made one arrest. It may be the right arrest and one that makes his post safer, but he's going to court one day and he's out in two hours. So you fail to reward the cop who actually does police work. But worse, it’s time to make new sergeants or lieutenants, and so you look at the computer and say: Who's doing the most work? And they say, man, this guy had 80 arrests last month, and this other guy’s only got one. Who do you think gets made sergeant? And then who trains the next generation of cops in how not to do police work? I’ve just described for you the culture of the Baltimore police department amid the deluge of the drug war, where actual investigation goes unrewarded and where rounding up bodies for street dealing, drug possession, loitering such – the easiest and most self-evident arrests a cop can make – is nonetheless the path to enlightenment and promotion and some additional pay. That’s what the drug war built, and that’s what Martin O’Malley affirmed when he sent so much of inner city Baltimore into the police wagons on a regular basis.

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/29/david-simon-on-baltimore-s-anguish

Measuring arrests and rewarding for # of arrests is the exact opposite of measuring protection. That means the cops get rewarded for more criminal acts. It actually motivates cops to want more crime so that they can make more arrests.

The primary measurement should be number of reported violent crimes in the patrolled area relative to the total number of people relative to the historical crime rate. The target should be as low a number as possible and / or a downward trend. Also, the reporting of the crime must be done in a two step process: 1) by the officer and 2) independently by the victim (or related to victim). This prevents under-reporting by the officer to game the system. I am sure it is not that simple, but you get the general idea. Reward the absence of crime, not the abundance / prosecution of it.

Makes sense.... But then there are other issues, like the stat that only 22% of instances of guns being fired generate a 911 call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Turns out that 40% of DC's gun violence happens in just 2% of the city. And I suspect a lot of the other gun violence outside of this area relates back to it in some way. MPD should be putting significant all-hands resources into cameras/surveillance/investigative/undercover work to geographically root this out.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/07/22/shooting-increase-dc-gun-violence/

Putting a disproportionate amount of police resources into 2% of the city will immediately get you branded as a racist.

Why would any MPD police officer risk charges of racism (plus the risk of facing armed criminals) by going to Anacostia?

Answer: none.

Much safer to write parking tickets in Tennleytown at 1 AM than go into S.E.

Didn’t you all know this already?? Or are you new to town?

[Anonymous]

Shooting on 14th St. NW just now.