1400 Q Street NW: Police Meet With Residents on Recent Incidents
From Cody Telep. Follow him on Twitter @codywt, email him at cody[AT]borderstan.com.
About 35 residents attended a police-community meeting organized by Q Street residents and held in the lobby of 1401 Q Street NW Tuesday night. The 1400 block of Q Street NW sits on the boundary of three Police Service Areas (PSA) in both the Second and Third Districts, so multiple representatives from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) were in attendance.
Click for a larger map: The map shows the current Police Service Areas in the Third District. PSA 208 is west of 307 and south of 301; the red lines show the boundaries prior to January 1. (MPD)
PSA Lieutenants John McDonald from PSA 208 (which covers Dupont and the south side of the 1400 block of Q Street NW) and Jeffery Carroll from PSA 307 (which includes Logan and Q Street east of 14th Street NW) attended the meeting, as did Sergeant David Terestre from PSA 307. Lt. Nicole Lindsey from PSA 301, which includes the north side of the 1400 block of Q Street NW, did not attend.
Residents had asked for the meeting in response to recent incidents on and around the 1400 block of Q Street, including the robbery of three women in April, an armed robbery in May (see Two Armed Robberies Wednesday Night in Neighborhood), and the assault of a man on the 1300 block of Q Street in May.
Carroll and McDonald announced that investigations in all three cases are still active and no arrests have been made. None of the incidents seem to be linked.
A number of residents asked whether MPD has increased patrols in the area. McDonald has added Q Street to the walking beat of the PSA 208 foot patrol officer who covers N Street NW up to Q Street NW between 14th and 15th Street NW during the evening shift. He is working to get a second foot patrol officer for the PSA. Vehicle patrols have also been increased. The foot patrol officer in PSA 301 is often working on the 1400 block of R Street NW, which has had a number of recent problems including a shooting last month (see 10:15 PM Shooting on Saturday, 1400 Block of R Street NW).
MPD officers provided a number of safety tips to avoid becoming the victim of a robbery. They emphasized the importance of being aware of your surroundings and not being distracted by phones or other electronic devices. If you are victimized, any information you can provide about the suspect will be useful in providing a look out. Unique characteristics of the suspect can be particularly helpful.
In a robbery last Thursday at 15th and Swann Streets NW, for example, the victim reported that one of the two suspects was wearing bright blue shoes. An officer approached an individual matching this description at Manny and Olga’s Pizza on 14th Street NW a short time later. The individual had the victim’s phone in his possession and he was arrested.
Attendees discussed organizing citizen efforts to help MPD address crime in the area, including the possibility of starting Orange Hat Patrols. These patrols have been popular in other parts of the city, and typically involve residents meeting monthly and wearing orange hats while walking around neighborhood problem spots. These efforts will be discussed further at the next meeting of the Logan Circle Community Association. That meeting will be held Wednesday, June 13 at 7:00 pm at the Washington Plaza Hotel at 10 Thomas Circle NW.
Like reading Borderstan’s Crime stories? Get an RSS Feed for the Crime Section, or an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories.
