So things are slow, WTOP is writing about the Air Guitar championships, and most people are at the beach instead of reading blogs. People are still continuing to shoot at each other. Since this is a Friday, and I'm still researching my final two WMATA pieces (sorry for the delay), I wanted to ask the readers a question. How often do you find yourself calling the police in DC?
I'd say I call 911 on average 2-3 times a month, probably more in the summer. Yesterday alone, I had to call twice. The first was when some asshole in a Mini Cooper ran into a cyclist at 16th and Euclid. The cyclist started yelling at the driver and punching the car, at which point the Mini Cooper went into reverse (in the middle of rush hour), and attempted to speed off up 16th Street. Except he was too busy being an asshole to notice the girl on the Vespa he was about to hit. Whoops. No one was injured, but I wanted to relay the tag number in case he sped away again. My favorite part was the random bystander who screamed at the top of her lungs and started sobbing "oh my god!"
The second call was around 10:15 pm, when I heard 7 or so gunshots. It was two shots, then a series of three more, then a pause, and then two more. At first I assumed it was firecrackers, but then realized my mistake. Especially when the shots began to get closer to my window, and the people on the street backed up against a wall and looked frightened. So I call 911, and this time am directed to some sort of automated message I was not expecting, I think asking me to press a button to continue in English. I had never heard that before, I hung up and dialed again, this time getting an operator. MPD was on the scene within a few minutes, so not too bad.
Generally I end up calling for gunshots or suspicious activity, sometimes car accidents with injuries. And there was that one time a guy kept driving around the block in a BMW while masturbating.
I try not to fall into the trap of "well, if it's serious someone else would call," because if something was happening to me, I would hope whoever saw or heard it would call the police. It's better safe than sorry, and I'm not calling for things that would be a waste of time (e.g. no chicken nuggets, well-dressed black people walking on the street).
How about you all?
I once had the cops called on me for dancing with a girl in the middle of Kalorama street in the rain. It was rather romantic acutally. Till the fuzz showed up.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should ask about contact w/ the police. Yesterday, I received a telephone call from a detective w/ the Arlington County Sheriff's Department notifying me that they were investigating my complaint concerning death threats related to my tenure at this blog.
ReplyDelete--M@
Oddly enough, people don't seem to be shooting at each other nearly as much as usual, despite the nice weather...
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you call 911 three times a month. While those two sound 911 worthy, what is it, are you just a magnet for trouble? Or do you also call 911 when you see a drunk pissing on the sidewalk?
well, no, maybe 3 times a month is a bit of a liberal estimate here.
ReplyDeleteexample, last month. two calls for gunshots, one call for a scream of bloody murder at around 3 am (someone else called that one in as well).
in june, i don't remember exactly, but there was one instance of gunshots, and the other was possibly not 911 worthy (someone had left a dog locked in the car on the street, and the car was about to be towed for street sweeping).
no, i don't call for things that if i were a police officer i would get pissed for being called to. side note to dave's biography, in 2006 i almost became a police officer in arlington county.
(keeping in mind 311 is no longer non-emergency, so all police calls go to 911)
ReplyDeleteRight. I'm just surprised, I'm only about once every 6 months and I live deep in the hood. Actually I'm pretty damn surprised I've never once heard gunshots in Columbia Heights in over two years. I think I am a sound sleeper.
ReplyDeleteCan I ask where you live? And also, if it is so bad, why don't you relocate?
ReplyDeleteI live with Dave. He's not kidding. We live street-level near Girard Park and hear a lot more gun shots than I ever thought we would (used to live on Ogden and that was better, surprisingly).
ReplyDeleteWhy do we stay? Same reason you all do - cheap rent, metro accessibility, fewer rats than Adams Morgan, and plain old stubborness. We're not throwing up our arms and leaving because sometimes it's scary, but rather trying to be proactive and report the scary stuff in the hopes that it might make a difference. You can whine about the crime on your blogs all you want, but are any of you calling the cops when shit goes down in your neighborhood? Doesn't sound like it.
Live off Maryland Ave, NE right before Benning Road. The busy 911 call season for me is now, practically non-existant in winter. Another reason to oppose global warming.
ReplyDeleteLiving in crime-ridden Ward 3, I've called 911 once to report two homeless people engaged in an escalating shouting match at 2am.
ReplyDeleteI envy your edginess.
Speaking of hitting cyclists; mat is moving to Austin?! That's the bicycling capital of TX. He's got a "thing" for fit guys wearing lycra, apparently.
ReplyDeleteMy neighborhood is pretty quiet ... I think we've called maybe three times since we moved into this apartment three years ago. I've called 311 more to report things.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about 311 not being non-emergency anymore? I hadn't heard that. Can someone elaborate?
911 is the number to call for MPD or fire and EMS. 311 is for other city services. if you call 311 and tell them you need the police, they will transfer you to 911.
ReplyDeleteI am imaging the call about the gun shots going "One plus two plus two plus one." "No, one plus two plus one plus one."
ReplyDeleteI have lived on Logan Circle for almost five years and I have called 911 once -- to report someone in the act of stealing a bicycle.
ReplyDeleteI live in ward 8 so I call atleast 4 times a month.
ReplyDelete