Sounds of Gunfire on O Street NW

On Saturday in the late afternoon, I chatted with Sarah, who lives on O Street NW, and her friends. She is a teacher at a correctional facility. One of her concerns is that Dunbar High School does not permit local youth to use its playing field, but yet the school rents the field to a local private school.

While we are talking, a rapid series of explosions could be heard, coming from a street north of us. Given that there was only a fraction of a second between each sound, I speculated that we were hearing fireworks. Maybe I'm an optimist. Sarah thought otherwise, because she had just seen some youth who she believes have access to firearms. Then we heard sirens a while later, and Sarah expressed her concern that one of her students might have been shot.

I asked Sarah if she had ever seen police officers walking in the neighborhood, as a regular beat. She replied that the police are definitely not on foot in the area, and that "the only time they're out of their cars is if they're picking picking up shell casings."

I myself have not seen officers on foot where I live on North Capitol Street. Folks on the local listserv have seen officers, but only recently. I asked a neighbor on my street who is continuously sitting on the front porch, and he said officers would never be seen walking on the street until approximately two weeks ago.

Perhaps it's the political attention to this issue or something else, but it appears that walking beats are a very new phenomenon in our neighborhood. So whenever you see an officer walking in our neighborhood, stop him/her and let the officer know how much you appreciate the presence, and let them know your concerns about crime.