WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA9) — After several weeks of tense community and police relations, the Metropolitan Police Department extended an olive branch to the Deanwood section of Northeast.
But their efforts on Sheriff Road Tuesday fell flat.
“The good idea was having the Workforce on Wheels bus out here with DOES (Department of Employment Services),” said ANC 7C04 Anthony Lorenzo Green. “The bad idea was having MPD out here as well, especially after what went down on this corner last Monday night.”
That night, an all out brawl broke out between police and several community members.
The fight was captured on cellphone video.
So, when police showed up to the block again Tuesday afternoon to set up a tent just outside Nook's barber shop, community members scattered. Young men who need the Department of Employment Services most of all never got them.
By all accounts, the community outreach fell flat.
“Relations with police are still tense. It doesn't mean that the community members don't want to have an honest conversation. It just has to happen organically and from the heart of this community,” said Commissioner Green.
On June 13, cellphone video of a stop and frisk was recorded; the searches turned up some drugs, but no weapons – the suspicion of a gun is the only reason police should ever stop and frisk.
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“I’m hearing similar stories, not just in Wards 7 and 8 where individuals in that video are roving around the city and doing illegal searches,” said Green.
He believes it's no coincidence the more aggressive policing follows an $11.4 million investment slated for the area.
The mayor says the development is for seniors and formerly homeless but Commissioner Green still fears folks will be pushed out.
“For someone who grew up in this neighborhood, that's the main response that I always see use police to clear the block. You want to clear people from the corner? Don't send the police, send services you send people who can talk to them, like I have been doing engaging them as human being and find out how you can connect them,” said Green.
Commissioner Green is holding community listening sessions to connect people to services and talk a about police relations. He invites MPD to attend.
A check of the MPD crime map shows violent crime in that area is down 50% in the last year.
