Mayor Adrian Fenty has directed the Metropolitan Police Department to re-examine the city’s so-called crime “hot spots” to determine which D.C. neighborhoods have grown safe enough to move out of the program and which should be the focus of a concentrated police response.
The decision to redefine the city’s 14 communities with the highest crime could spark competition among neighborhood leaders who believe their blocks are more deserving of extra public safety and social service attention.
“I would agree that a number of blocks in our area have been the scene of multiple homicides in the past year, and I can’t believe they would not be included in the redefinition of hot spots,” said Shaw Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Alex Padro, who specifically cited the 1300 block of 7th Street Northwest. “If they’re not putting them there, why would they put them anywhere else?”
Launched in 2004 under the direction of former City Administrator Robert Bobb and former Police Chief Charles Ramsey, the hot spot program focused police coverage and social services on 14 neighborhoods facing particularly bad crime waves. Nine of the original hot spots were replaced in January 2005 after dramatic downturns in violent and property crime.
During a recent accountability session on homicides, Fenty directed the MPD to redefine hot spot areas to reflect more recent crime trends. Neighborhoods on the current list include Columbia Road and Euclid Street in Adams Morgan, three Southeast communities, two on the Georgia Avenue corridor and five in Northeast.
Neighborhood leaders in existing hot spots say the job isn’t done. Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Sandra Seegers, whose district includes the Yuma Street hot spot, said the added focus has toned down since former Mayor Anthony Williams left office.
“They need to stay,” Seegers said. “They need to make some more hot spots really, keep those and add on a couple more.”
Traci Hughes, MPD spokeswoman, said the hot spot program continues under Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
“We are taking a look at existing hot spots and making a determination if others should be added,” she said, adding that there’s been no decision whether to remove any communities from the existing list.
