The Post reports that the checkpoints will return for five days. As the Post reports, but facts are still getting sorted out here, it currently appears that the groups the men in the car sought to rob were chosen at random. This also means that the shooting victims were randomly chosen, and not targeted for any other reason than that they happened to be outside at the wrong time. Personally, I would wonder why if a single group's goal was to rob people they didn't immediately take off and leave the neighborhood after the first robbery that went so wrong that someone was shot. Police plan to release sketches of the suspects shortly. Please note Chief Lanier's comment [also referenced in an email below] that all of the victims in the associated incidents were shot in the back, or shot while attempting to flee their attackers.
Also, I wanted to point out the text message service that is now available. You can contact the police by texting the number 50411. Please note that the police refer to this as their anonymous text number, so they won't be calling you back. This is a handy tool anytime, and works very well in situations where you can't just get on the phone and tell the operator what you are seeing. It also means not spending time on hold. But you still need to call the cops if you need to talk to an operator and give a description of a suspect, or anything else, so DO NOT USE THE TEXT SERVICE IN THE CASE OF AN EMERGENCY. The text message service is probably best for things like alerting the police that drug dealers are standing on your corner doing business, but not so good for reporting the fight going on outside. Here's what MPD says about their new text service-
Give 5-0 the 411 with the new Text Tip Line: 50411. Text messages are monitored by members of the department 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Tips are then analyzed and passed on to the appropriate unit or division for follow-up. Because the tip line is anonymous, the sender will not receive a response to the original message.
Neither of these anonymous tips lines is an emergency number. If you witness a crime in progress or have an emergency that requires the police, please call 911.
14 comments:
Maybe it's time to ask Councilmember Phil Mendelson how he'd like to justify his actions that would seem to guarantee an increase in gun violence, highlighted in this Washingtonian article?
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/8002.html
Inked said, "Personally, I would wonder why if a single group's goal was to rob people they didn't immediately take off and leave the neighborhood after the first robbery that went so wrong that someone was shot."
Inked, Inked, Inked, I LOVE your blog, but sometimes your youthful innocence, or maybe its naivety, reveals itself on here. You're actually assuming that these people have a conscious and didn't say, "oops, gosh darn it, that didn't work out like we planned" and just leave after their robbery went so amuck?
Do you still want those check points to go away now out of concern for your civil/constitutional rights? Funny, many people on here that oppose the checkpoints also think the police are doing a crappy job and that Chief Lanier needs to step up to the plate and do "something" about the crime in our area.
I once heard: If you're not liberal when you're young you don't have a heart; if you're not conservative when you're older you don't have a brain. It's true. And like it or not, sometimes we just have to grow up.
Anon 1024,
I think maybe you just misunderstood my comment. I don't know, maybe it's just your condescending arrogance that caused you that problem, or it could be that you are simplistically clinging to a particular political ideal so much that you jump on anything that seems to support your point, even when your interpretation doesn't make sense. I meant I would think they might have panicked a bit and sought to get out of the area before they got caught. Shootings bring cops, and with Shotspotter up and running those cops know exactly when and where the shots were fired before anyone even has time to call them in.
I did not mean that the shooters would have some pang of conscience because of the shooting. Clearly none of these guys has a conscience, or they wouldn't be engaging in this kind of crap. I just meant they were pretty stupid to hang around and do it again just a couple of blocks away. They were lucky they got away, but hopefully they won't be free for long.
passed trinidad last night around midnight. several trinidad eastbound streets leading to bladensberg road were blocked off. police cars at most of the cordons. high powered lights set up at one intersection further into the neighborhood. a lot of the trinidad southbound streets leading to florida appeared to be blocked as well.
actually, i didn't see how you could even enter trinidad from the east or south (through west virginia perhaps? i didn't check that far up florida).
hmmm.
as for mendelson, i would like to see an article interviewing him so he could explain his positions. i disagree with the idea of minimum mandatory sentences myself, but the whole switching of three associates to five to prove gang membership (conspiracy?) seems...interesting. what if a gang only has four members?
proving operability is fundamentally retarded. if someone possesses a gun that is designed to operate but doesn't for some reason, i don't think that should trump a possession charge, it just means that suspect bought a cheap gun.
but mendelson isn't the only person on the council...why hasnt anyone lobbied to get this changed?
The story suggests that the 13 year old was shot at approximately 2:20 a.m. That strikes me as entirely too late for a 13 year old to be hanging around outside, particulary in a neighborhood where there have been several shootings in the past month or so. Very sad.
Hopefully this string of murders and robberies shuts up all of these idiot liberal morons who are more worried about civil liberties than their own safety and the safety of their neighbors
jtfb,
a person who gives up his liberties for security deserves neither, to paraphrase benjamin franklin. you know, one of the founders of our country.
we have a bill of rights to protect all of us from encroachments by the state. this is not a 'liberal' concept, it is woven into the fabric of our nation. don't like the bill of rights? feel free to move to a more totalitarian state. you'll be plenty safe from crime in, say, cuba. happy hunting.
I am bothered that the focus is on the check points and not crimes.
No offense to the ACLU, but the shrine for the child that was killed is around the of my house I can see if from my back yard.
If the check points help then great. I'd be for walling Trinidad off in some nice garden walls system. I am for anything that will help.
I drive everyday, yes its a pain, but it's nothing like losing a child.
-Robby
Lets put the Liberal-Conservative argument aside and try to solve this problem. Isn't it obvious that checkpoints have only a temporary effect? I don't mind living in a gated community -- rich people do it for safety too -- but if it's temporary, and clearly DC can't afford to maintain manned checkpoints indefinitely, it's not going to work. Why isn't anyone insisting that MPD invest in a crack (as in top notch, not drugged out) investigative team to work the neighborhood for a few months, solve some of these murders and lock up the drug dealers and their bosses? Gun toting losers aren't coming to our streets to admire our specimen trees folks. They're here because of the drug trade, get rid of that and you get rid of 90% of the problem.
Full Franklin quote: "Those would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
You're reaching if you're insinuating that supporting a temporary checkpoint in a crime-ridden area is to somehow give up an essential liberty.
Why isn't anyone insisting that MPD invest in a crack investigative team to work the neighborhood for a few months, solve some of these murders...?
What a ridiculous suggestion. You really think some boring old strategy like thoughtful, well-conducted investigation is better than doing showboat checkpoints for the cameras for a few days?
Clearly, your idea of the cops' job and their idea don't line up.
if it's temporary, and clearly DC can't afford to maintain manned checkpoints indefinitely, it's not going to work...
Right, because if it only works to stop a couple of murders four weekends a month, but then down the road murders continue to happen, what's the point?
cousin of quin said:
"You're reaching if you're insinuating that supporting a temporary checkpoint in a crime-ridden area is to somehow give up an essential liberty."
the dc court of appeals disagreed with you and found that certain checkpoints (including one quite similar to the roadblocks here) represent an unreasonable seizure. i'm not 'reaching', i have a pretty good grasp on constitutional law.
ps: the constitution does not stop working when one enters what you dub a 'crime ridden area' (which, by the way, is filled with regular folks who aren't criminals at all as well).
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