ANC Opposes Proposal For Police Redistricting

There was no shouting match or name calling.

However, neighborhood residents who attended Thursday night's ANC 6A meeting made clear their displeasure at the way the DC Police Department handled the latest proposal to change the PSA boundaries- a change that could have profound implication to policing in our neighborhood. And they made the grievance loud and clear to Anne Grant, who is the Police Department analyst directly overseeing the proposal, and to the Police Department First District Commander Thomas McGuire, both of whom were present at the well-attended meeting at Miner Elementary School.

As reported in the Oct. 26 issue of the Corner Forum, the Research and Resource development Unit at the Police Department made a change in September to a previously announced proposal of establishing new Police Service Area (PSA) boundaries, incorporating the Corner Forum area into the new PSA 103, rather than the new PSA 102, as it had proposed earlier this year.

Even before Thursday night's meeting, some residents in the neighborhood had expressed concern that the change would effectively push the readership area out of the traditional Capitol Hill neighborhood in terms of policing mechanism.

At Thursday night's meeting, Nick Alberti, Commissioner of ANC 6A04, went directly to the core of the issue, asking Ms. Grant why her office made the change in September without consulting with ANC6A commissioners and residents in this neighborhood. He said he was very disappointed at the way the change took place, and urged Ms. Grant to reconsider the decision.

Ms. Grant responded first by apologizing about the fact that the commissioners and residents were not adequately informed about the change. "Our methodology of communication with our residents could be faulty", said Ms. Grant, "but at the same time, we were so overwhelmed with responses from city residents about the overall proposal that we might have neglected to ask for your comments about the latest change."

Commander McGuire also defended the Department's decision to move the eastern boundary of the new PSA 103 from 15th Street to 8th Street. He said he initially was okay with the earlier proposed eastern boundary of PSA 103 at 15th Street, but when certain members of the community asked for the change, he went along too.

Following Commissioner Alberti's comments, several residents then voiced their opposition to the latest PSA proposal, citing historical factors and traditional neighborhood characters.

Anwar Saleem, Chairman of H Street Main Street, an organization heavily involved with H Street revitalization project, also strongly opposed the latest change, which would divide the H Street Corridor in half at 8th. Having grown up in the area, Mr. Saleem said that having accountability of police officers from just one PSA would be important to H Street revitalization effort.

Not everyone at the meeting is protesting the latest PSA proposal, though. One resident who lives on 16th Street, near Gales Street, urged the Police Department to consider opinion from broader community, and not to give in simply because the old saying that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease".

However, the overwhelming majority at the meeting seems to be unwilling to accept the new PSA proposal, even though not everyone had the chance to voice their opinions.

In the end, the ANC6A commission passed a unanimous resolution to protest the latest PSA proposal by the Police Department, and urging the Department to reconsider the matter.

Ms. Anne Grant of the Police Department said her office would continue to take community's input. But she said it would be impossible to make everyone happy in the end, and time was an issue too.

"At some point, we'll have to draw a line in the sand, and say this is it," says Ms. Grant.

Note: To learn more about the new proposed PSA boundaries, visit http://www.mpdc.org.

However, as of Friday, maps showing the latest proposal to move our neighborhood into PSA 103 were still not available online. You will have to ask Ms. Grant to send you copies of the new maps. Her contact information: Anne Christine Grant, Policy Analyst, Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, Research and Resource Development Unit, 300 Indiana Avenue, NW, Room 4152, Washington, DC 20001. 727-0915, 727-4174. §