— Jared Critchfield attends PSA 107’s meetings regularly. Here’s his take on the May 21, 2009 PSA 107 (Police Service Area) meeting:
ANC Commissioners Carol Green and Will Hill hosted the meeting. Roby Chavez, news reporter for FOX 5 WTTG, was there when I arrived to cover the October 2008 stabbing story. Carolyn L. Smith of MPD (Metropolitan Police Department) and Carolyn Crank of OAG (US Office of Attorney General) also attended. MPD Lt. Daniel Ewell (daniel.ewell@dc.gov) said he could not provide any additional details, beyond the fact that someone was arrested, concerning the October 2008 stabbing. He said he would not comment in order to not compromise the case.
Several robberies have occurred within a few blocks of the Potomac Avenue and Stadium Armory Metro stations. Lt. Ewell said he is working with the Transit police captain assigned to this area. Neighbors suggested letting Metro police management know that we want them to focus their efforts on these areas. Metro Police District 2 can be reached at 202.636.7117. The link for leaving email messages is here: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/transit_police/contact_us.cfm
Two neighbors complained that last Thursday evening they were threatened with a knife near the Potomac Avenue Metro station. The perpetrator was caught by the police, and positively identified by the victims. The perpetrator was sent home without consequences. The victims, not surprisingly, were unsatisfied with the police officers’ response and that of their superiors.
Have you ever had an experience when police released an apprehended offender?
Lt. Ewell suggested that anyone who is not satisfied with the police response ask the officer to contact the watch commander, who should come to the scene. We can also contact Lt. Ewell about the incident later, but it’s recommended that we request the watch commander, and call 911 again, if necessary.
Lt. Ewell said in June the 15th & Pennsylvania Ave area will be declared a drug free zone in June. This designation will focus police efforts, and hopefully reduce crime, within a 1,000 feet radius from that point.
Finally, Lt. Ewell asked everyone who posts police issues on the listservs to state that they called 911 in the email. Our officers are spending time trying to figure out if some of the issues received a response or call for service. Adding that information will help the police expend their energies more efficiently. Please call 911 and then post to the listserv. Do not expect police to be dispatched from the listservs.
David Muhammad, Chief of Committed Services of DYRS (Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services), provided a list of the reforms happening within his department and an overview of his complicated system.
Two systems manage juveniles in DC. The first, called probation, is administered by CSS (Court Social Services http://www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/superior/social_services.jsp), a quasi federal agency and the juvenile equivalent of CSOSA (Court Services & Offender Supervision Agency http://www.csosa.gov/). Two thousand juveniles, 1,700 hundred of which are convicted and 300 which are pre-trial, are in the probation program. They receive court-appointed and mandated services, but live at home.
The second system is DYRS. Juveniles are convicted based on seriousness of offenses and longer criminal records. 720 juveniles are in this system. 170 are in residential (locked) centers, 130 are in group homes, 280 are at home with monitoring from case managers, and 65 are at Oak Hill (the numbers don’t add to 720, but that’s what was presented).
Next week, Oak Hill will officially change its name to New Beginnings as a result of a commission decision a few years ago. The old facility is refurbished, and a new $44 million dollar facility has been built in Laurel, MD where juveniles will attend a private school and receive services. Seven percent of the youth in DYRS custody are Ward 6 residents. 7.7% of the arrests in DC from January 1-May 16, 2009 were juveniles.
In DC, from January-May 16, 2009, there were 102 robbery arrests (not necessarily convictions). 36.5% were juveniles. For the same time period last year, there were 89 robbery arrests and 36.3% were juveniles.
Mr. Muhammad said one of the difficulties of his job are the privacy laws that prevent him from even communicating effectively about juveniles with MPD representatives. The laws, meant to hinder a youth from being permanently stigmatized for criminal behavior, hinder effective communication between agencies responsible for rehabilitation of the youth.
The next PSA 107 meeting at Liberty Baptist Church basement, 527 Kentucky Ave, SE on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 7 p.m.