Local
Cops to close embattled station
By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
December 23, 2008
Violent crimes are rising in D.C.’s 6th District, but the police department is shutting down a key outpost there.
The district’s substation on Pennsylvania Avenue is scheduled to be shut down at the end of next year, police officials announced Monday after weeks of swirling rumors.
Sixth District Cmdr. Robert Contee broke the news in a hearing before the D.C. City Council’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. He said that the lease for the outpost had become too expensive and that the substation “does not add patrol presence to the community.”
“We understand the concern that the closure of the substation may result in a loss of police presence in the areas,” Contee said in prepared testimony. But, he added, “there will be no loss of services to the neighborhoods.”
The 6th District is among the city’s most dangerous, but it also has pockets of wealth, especially in the Hillcrest neighborhood. Crime in the district is up in every major category except “theft from auto,” which is down 4 percent from last year, according to department statistics.
Neighbors lined up Monday to denounce the closure.
“The substation on Pennsylvania Avenue has come to symbolize community policing to the residents of the area,” said Robert Thomas Richards, advisory neighborhood commissioner. “We associate its presence with rapid response and a working relationship with the police that seems almost like the old cop on the beat.
“Residents fear its loss,” Richards added.
Chief Cathy Lanier didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Police union Chairman Kris Baumann said residents were suffering because of downtown political calculations.
“Because it’s east of the river, the administration isn’t interested in devoting resources, manpower and attention that those neighborhoods deserve,” Baumann said. “It hasn’t gentrified.”
The district’s substation on Pennsylvania Avenue is scheduled to be shut down at the end of next year, police officials announced Monday after weeks of swirling rumors.
Sixth District Cmdr. Robert Contee broke the news in a hearing before the D.C. City Council’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. He said that the lease for the outpost had become too expensive and that the substation “does not add patrol presence to the community.”
“We understand the concern that the closure of the substation may result in a loss of police presence in the areas,” Contee said in prepared testimony. But, he added, “there will be no loss of services to the neighborhoods.”
The 6th District is among the city’s most dangerous, but it also has pockets of wealth, especially in the Hillcrest neighborhood. Crime in the district is up in every major category except “theft from auto,” which is down 4 percent from last year, according to department statistics.
Neighbors lined up Monday to denounce the closure.
“The substation on Pennsylvania Avenue has come to symbolize community policing to the residents of the area,” said Robert Thomas Richards, advisory neighborhood commissioner. “We associate its presence with rapid response and a working relationship with the police that seems almost like the old cop on the beat.
“Residents fear its loss,” Richards added.
Chief Cathy Lanier didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Police union Chairman Kris Baumann said residents were suffering because of downtown political calculations.
“Because it’s east of the river, the administration isn’t interested in devoting resources, manpower and attention that those neighborhoods deserve,” Baumann said. “It hasn’t gentrified.”
