I (and lots and lots of other people) attended last night's very long 5D (5th police District) Citizens Advisory Counsel meeting. All told, I was there for about three hours (we lingered a bit to discuss issues after the meeting). I think there were 6 Commissioners (ANC) from 5B present (Bernard, Davis, Hooper, Lawson, Myers, Shelton). The press was there. The Mayor was there, and the Chief of Police was there. Also present was the contractor who was shot repeatedly (in Carver Terrace) after asking some teens to stop sitting on his parked car (the case is closed with two arrests of juveniles). Much discussion centered around crime and violence in Carver/Langston, and in portions of Trinidad (specifically eastern portions of Queen Street). The police explained how officers on certain shifts are shuffling around a bit, but promised that they would not pull officers away from trouble spots in Carver and Lanston.
Chief Cathy Lanier (the new Chief of Police) emphasized that whe plans to work hard to bring the police department up to date on technology and to get different agencies talking to each other, rather than each trying to do their own thing. The MPD have also revived the Officer Friendly program (soon to be renamed) that sends officers into the schools so that young students get to know the officers and can for positive relationships with them. I think that covers most of it.
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UPDATE
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I forgot to mention that after the meeting I joined seven other attendees for food and a beer at the Argonaut (thank goodness they still had the kitchen open after 10pm). We talked about ways to improve our PSA meetings (which can suffer from some major umm...organizational problems). As a side note, Art Slater did a great job leading the CAC meeting. We talked about maybe using citizen coordinators. PSAs 102 and 501 have them (as I'm sure some other ANCs do as well) and they seem to work really well (one of our dining companions acts a citizen coordinator for 501). I think it would be a great idea. As I've said before, one of the factors that's allowed ANC 6A to become so powerful is the use of citizen committees because it gives you a lot more energy and manpower to get things done (and those committee members are generally on point and very educated about the issues).
Chief Cathy Lanier (the new Chief of Police) emphasized that whe plans to work hard to bring the police department up to date on technology and to get different agencies talking to each other, rather than each trying to do their own thing. The MPD have also revived the Officer Friendly program (soon to be renamed) that sends officers into the schools so that young students get to know the officers and can for positive relationships with them. I think that covers most of it.
*************************
UPDATE
*************************
I forgot to mention that after the meeting I joined seven other attendees for food and a beer at the Argonaut (thank goodness they still had the kitchen open after 10pm). We talked about ways to improve our PSA meetings (which can suffer from some major umm...organizational problems). As a side note, Art Slater did a great job leading the CAC meeting. We talked about maybe using citizen coordinators. PSAs 102 and 501 have them (as I'm sure some other ANCs do as well) and they seem to work really well (one of our dining companions acts a citizen coordinator for 501). I think it would be a great idea. As I've said before, one of the factors that's allowed ANC 6A to become so powerful is the use of citizen committees because it gives you a lot more energy and manpower to get things done (and those committee members are generally on point and very educated about the issues).
1 comment:
Yikes. I was going to say I was sorry to have bailed (because of commitments at home) right at the end of the meeting...now reading your addendum I'm really sad to not have stayed around.
I totally agree that the CAC meeting was well run...something we would benefit from if it was applied to the PSA meetings.
Fenty et al did a good job but to keep the initial honeymoon going citizens need to apply constant (constructive) pressure while simultaneously taking positive actions on our own. That will take organization and leadership (ouch, the cliche meter is pegged :-). Looking fwd to being part of that. Thanks for posting the summary.
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