Posts about Crime

Amico opened a Kickstarter account 3 weeks ago to fund turning the site into a lab for student journalists, who would each follow some of the homicides in exchange for compensation. As of last night, the campaign passed its $40,000 goal as more than 1,000 backers offered over $46,000 in support.

Homicide takes its toll on families

Murder affects DC neighborhoods very differently. West of Rock Creek Park, murder has occurred rarely more than once or twice a year over the past decade, yet neighbor­hoods like Barry Farm and corners like 6th and Chesapeake Streets SE in Washington Highlands, on occasion, are touched multiple times a week. More than 30 homicides this year remain unsolved, nearly 40 from last year, and close to 100 in each of 2010 and 2009. DC has close to 250 unsolved homicides in the past 4 years.

For many still-unsolved cases, the victim has an individual page on Homicide Watch lists the phone numbers of the active detectives, as with Sirrocco Delonte Johnson's cold case from April.

In an age where even prisoners behind jail walls can access social media at all hours, we should support an online resource like Homicide Watch to help solve every open murder case. For Ms. Ella Carey, mother of 19-year old Anthony Reginald Ford, Jr. who was slain on 58th Street SE in the summer of 2009, the webpage for her son's street memorial on Washington's Other Monuments not only helps her grieve but lets "those cowards [who] took my son away from me" know the law will not rest until justice is served.

"[Homicide Watch] provides thorough, accurate up-to-date information on every aspect of the issue, far better than any other media or government source," says photography artist Lloyd Wolf, who has documented nearly 500 street memorials in the Washington, DC metropolitan area over the past decade. As with Homicide Watch D.C., Wolf's site, Washington's Other Monuments, has become a virtual destination for mourners to collectively grieve and share their memories. "Most critically perhaps, Homicide Watch has created a meaningful forum for the families and friends of area homicide victims to connect, share, and remember."

"Homicide Watch is a very important resource for everyone," says Kristopher Baumann, head of the DC police union. "It benefits the public, the police, and the families of victims. The more sunlight and focus on the government and its processes the better."

Can MPD help as well?

Despite its Kickstarter success, Homicide Watch has work ahead to transform itself from a personal project by the Amicos to a student-driven news operation. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), which benefits from public attention on crime and the leads that can come from the press, should consider finding ways to facilitate the important work of publicly documenting every murder in the city from crime to conviction.

For current unsolved deaths and murders, MPD maintains a webpage with PDFs of reward posters organized year by year. The oldest current case is Christina Burke, aka Christine Baynard, from 1962.

MPD could work with Homicide Watch to better organize and disseminate this information, such as by embedding Homicide Watch's better-organized pages on the MPD site or linking to it. It could also work with Homicide Watch to collect leads and information about murders and pass them on to the appropriate detectives.

MPD could do monthly or quarterly Q&As on Homicide Watch with officers in the homicide branch. They could discuss recent closed and open cases, talk about efforts to close cold cases, how to be in touch with officers, and make a push for better citizen cooperation. There could even be guest columns from members of MPD, in addition to the testimonials from mourners the site has now.

In the past, MPD has had law students help investigate cold cases. This could be integrated with Homicide Watch, with public information they find posted on Homicide Watch. And, of course, the most direct way MPD could help Homicide Watch is through funding.

If Homicide Watch survives and thrives, all of DC will be better off, from the families of victims to the police trying to close years-old cases. Fortunately, the Kickstarter campaign's success has given this valuable resource a strong hope of making it in the long run.

The two communities are divided by Ballinger Drive, a public street where the popular Metrobus Z line runs, and a roughly 60-foot-wide strip of land owned by the Greencastle Lakes Homeowners Association.

Two years ago, the HOA began building a tall iron security fence on that strip of land, but construction stopped after a Montgomery County code inspector found they didn't have the proper permits. They're now seeking approval from the Planning Board, which will review the matter on September 13. This report assembled by Planning Department staff includes letters from over a hundred residents from Greencastle Lakes and Ventura, a townhouse community immediately across Ballinger.

Greencastle Lakes residents say they're just trying to replace and extend an existing chain-link fence that dates to the neighborhood's country club days, but also hope it will keep people out. They wrote of cars being broken into, "condoms, cigarette butts and drug paraphernalia" littering the streets, and teenagers smoking pot and having sex in the common areas. Many neighbors blamed Castle Boulevard.

"We have become victim to the crime from outside the community," wrote Marvin Kerdeman of Aldora Circle. "We pay a high homeowners fee to have the parking lot and trails available for our use, not for neighboring communities to trespass upon," wrote Julie and Ken Mackel, who added, "To access the metro [bus] stop, they still need to cross private land. Just because it is a convenient short-cut, it is still trespassing and should not be allowed to continue."

Ventura residents, meanwhile, say the fence would deny them access to the bus stops and Edgewood Park, a county park. The only other way to reach Ballinger Drive without crossing private property, they say, is a nearly 2-mile walk. "These facilities are public goods which we also contributed to and maintained with our paid taxes," wrote Dinah Teinor, also of Castle Terrace.

Some say it's just another sign of the discord between the two neighborhoods. "This has been an ongoing issue between both of our developments for several years. Something like the McCoy's and Hatfield's," wrote Ventura resident Sabrina Christmas.

In response, county planners have proposed that Greencastle Lakes build a gate and a sidewalk so Ventura residents could walk to a bus stop on Ballinger Drive. "The construction of a continuous fence without a pedestrian access does not support the existing walkable and sustainable character of the neighborhood, and will have a negative impact on the surrounding communities," the report says.

A fence may make some residents feel better, but if they really want to be safer, they should reach out to their neighbors on the Boulevard. Looking all of the letters, it's clear that safety is a big concern for everyone. After all, the fear of crime in Briggs Chaney is so strong that kids aren't allowed to play outside.

However, a safe space is a well-used space. Ventura residents may be "trespassing" on Greencastle Lakes' property to catch the bus or walk to the park, but their presence alone is a natural crime deterrent. Providing more foot connections between neighborhoods will build on the county's recent pedestrian safety improvements along Castle Boulevard and get more people walking, providing more "eyes on the street."

County planners decided where to put a gate in the proposed fence based on an existing desire path made by people walking to the bus stop. There are other desire paths in the neighborhood and in Briggs Chaney as a whole, and it may be worth seeing which ones could be formalized.

Residents should also be encouraged to use their common areas. Like other neighborhoods in Briggs Chaney, Greencastle Lakes also has lots of awkward, unused common areas, which look great but can invite crime if they aren't well-programmed. The homeowners' association took out benches in one common area to discourage loitering, but it also prevents residents from using them for legitimate purposes, which in turn encourages more loitering. It's time to put those benches back, and maybe even some tot lots.

Finally, Greencastle Lakes and Ventura should work together to fight the causes of crime in their community. For instance, they could organize a joint neighborhood watch or volunteer in the local schools. These may require more time and effort than simply erecting a fence, but they'll do far more to create a safer community.

This isn't the first time that a Montgomery County neighborhood has used a fence to seal themselves off from perceived "undesirables," but it should be the last. Good fences may make good neighbors, but real crime prevention also requires that neighbors work together.

To reduce the risk of theft, make sure you use a good lock, secure the various parts of your bike together, and lock up to a good rack or alternative object. Personally, I am partial to using locking skewers to protect my seat and wheels, locking my frame directly to some immoveable metal (lesson learned!), using a solid u-lock, and parking in strategic locations.

Obviously, we'd all rather make sure our bike is never stolen but you won't always be able to park your bike in a secure garage or your apartment. Regardless of how careful you are, given enough time and the right tools, any bike can be stolen. There are several important things you can do before your bike is stolen to aid in its recovery later.

Know your serial number. Most bikes have a sticker with the serial number on the underside of the down tube (long diagonal tube that is part of the main frame). If yours isn't there, check these other places. If your bike isn't labeled with a serial number, call the store where it was bought and check whether they have it. You'll want this information available on a moment's notice since it's helpful to include in a police report or NBR.

Fill out the paperwork. Do all the paperwork with your lock manufacturer and comply with their directions. Most major lock manufacturers (OnGuard, Kryptonite, etc) have some sort of anti-theft guarantee in which they will cut you a check for the worth of your bike if it is stolen and you can prove that the theft involved the defeat of their correctly employed lock. The rules of these programs are very precise and often require advance registration. Make sure to register and comply exactly with all the instructions. If you do, it will significantly improve the likelihood of their honoring the guarantee if your bike is stolen.

Leave identifying marks. You can engrave information on expensive parts to help prevent theft, but even sneakier is to leave a note with your info in the seat tube. A bike thief will rarely ever look there and should the thief or a future owner take it to a bike shop, the shop might very well find the note.

If your bike falls prey to a thief despite your best efforts, take a few steps to reduce your losses and increase the chance you'll get it back.

File a police report. This will be essential to later making a homeowners insurance, renters insurance or bike lock insurance claim (many companies that sell bike locks offer an anti-theft guarantee).

Check Craigslist. Go to Craigslist and search for your bike using terms like the make, model and style of bike. You might very well find someone trying to sell it very quickly (as this guy did). If you can determine that it is your bike, be in touch with the person selling it and arrange a time to meet. Contact MPD for assistance in recovering it and apprehending the thief or person who has received stolen property.

If your search doesn't turn up your bike, locate the RSS in the lower right-hand corner and set up a search feed. This way you won't have to actively monitor CL and will only get relevant listings. Don't set your search too narrowly, such as "Specialized Sequoia Comp 54cm," or else you may miss out if the bike thief doesn't know enough to list your bike with such detail. Stick with more general search terms even if it means extra ads to sort through.

Register your bike as stolen. For 99 cents you can list your bike in the National Bike Registry as stolen. Then if your bike is recovered, police in any jurisdiction can determine that it is yours and notify you. This is precisely what happened in my case. One day, four years later I got a call out of the blue that my bike had been recovered and I should come to the Ward 7 MPD Station to pick it up. Thanks, Officer Lyke!

Notify bike shops. Make up a flyer to send to local bike shops with as much identifying information you can think. Include the make, model, color, serial number, any parts you've swapped in, and your emergency contact info. If a similar bike comes in, the shop can check the serial number and help reunite you if it is your bike.

Most bike mechanics hate bike theft and will be happy to look out for your bike. What's more, mechanics tend to have good memories for bikes since they see so many and are experts. As a result, they may see the bike on the street, remember your flyer and notify you.

Tell your friends and your "friends." Let as many of your friends and colleagues as possible know that your bike has been stolen. Use social media to spread the word. Wherever you have a following, let them know to look out for your bike.

If you find it, lock it. If you happen to see a bicycle around town that you suspect is yours (identifying marks, serial number, unusual equipment combo, etc) and it is unattended, use your own lock to secure it and call the police. Most bike companies make hundreds if not thousands of bikes with the same make, model, trim, and color, so you need to be certain it is your bike. The police can help you do this.

Bike theft can increase the cost of cycling, but unless you have an extremely valuable bike, it's still generally a cheaper method of travel in the region than driving or taking transit. Even though I had to buy a first bike and then a replacement bike since living in DC, I've saved thousands of dollars, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars, by not owning a car.

Bike theft can be frustrating, but with a little effort, you can reduce your risk and increase your chances of recovering your ride. And, though it can be a hassle if it happens to you, try to keep it in perspective. Biking is still an excellent deal!

"Yeah, a former associate of mine has been set up in there pretty tight for a number of years," said community activist William Alston-El, who through community work and life experiences is affiliated with Anacostia's underworld. "His wife died and that's when he started. He's on crack, he's pretty gone in the head, you know. Yeah, you could say it's a crack house abandominium, a lot of people have been up in there, you know what I mean?"

By 2011 the taxes grew to more than $3,000. At this time Redemptor Litium, LLC, with holdings throughout all city neighborhoods, purchased the lien.

"This is a typical law school exam question," says James M. Loots, the lawyer representing Redemptor Litium, LLC. "The tax sale is supposed to fix the problem of getting the property under control and back to contributing property taxes."

Loots says his client has filed a motion for judgment and followed every necessary step to receive an order of foreclosure from posting the mandatory orange notice on the front door, to searching for heirs in the probate docket, to advertising in the paper for all known and unknown heirs to come forth.

The case is on a judge's desk and awaits another status hearing scheduled for next month.

Unfriendly neighbor

Dewey Sampson lives next door to the crack house abandominium. A federal employee, Sampson bought his home a little less than two years ago. On move-in day, two men sitting out front of the house next door offered their help, as good neighbors. Sampson soon learned from a long-time resident two down over that the men didn't live there. Nobody does. They are known undesirables, squatters.

"Early last summer I saw the orange sticker posted on the door," Sampson said. "I was really excited. I thought something was going to happen, but I didn't think it would take this long."

After the posting, last fall Sampson called the police on two squatters, who after an evening of drinking and drugging were cursing at each other loud enough for Sampson to hear through his walls.

"The police came right away. When they took one of the guys away he kept yelling, 'This is my house! This is my house! I was like what is he talking about?" said Sampson.

After telling him what I'd heard from Alston-El, Sampson said it now made sense. What's still illogical to Sampson and his fiance is how the house could sit vacant for so many years.

"This is a paradigm example of what the tax sale process is designed to address—getting vacant or neglected properties back on the tax rolls and into productive use. Unfortunately, that process takes a very long time," said Loots.

The sooner the better for Sampson, who last week saw a face he'd never seen before leaving the back of the house. "I don't want to judge people, but she looked like she was on drugs." Adding insult to injury, Sampson just paid an exterminator as a result of termites coming over from the abandominium.

"Those guys coming and going primarily are a safety concern for my fiancé, me, and the entire neighborhood. What if they set the house on fire and it spreads?" Sampson said. "What do we do then?"

Inside the house

This past Sunday morning with iPhone in hand, I went around to back of the home. Although the city boarded up the front door and the adjacent window last fall, I saw no evidence that anyone has made an effort to secure the rear.

I opened the mesh-screened back porch easily. There were bars on the back porch window to stop intruders from climbing in, but the back door is wide open.

Stepping inside the kitchen, the rancid smell of urine welcomed me. The counter was covered in stubs of used candles and empty cans of Goya beans. The floor was littered with all sorts of debris, including chunks of fallen plaster from the ceiling. Slices of light from the second floor peeked through through small gaps in the floorboards above.

In the living room, more clothes covered the floor, along with discarded syringes and a bent spoon used to fire up dope. Two windows fronted 14th Street, one boarded up, one deflecting the morning sun behind a thick curtain. Peeling back the curtain, I saw Engine Company Fifteen; down the street is Saint Phillip the Evangelist Episcopal Church; in the median sits the restored Old Market House Square, which had a ribbon cutting last fall.

In the tight hallway junk mail fertilizes the floor. Three framed pictures rest atop the radiator: a baby girl not yet pre-school aged, a young man flashing a smile in cap and gown, and repentant hands coming together in a moment of prayer. Lord knows the rebirth of Historic Anacostia's crumbling homes need communion through any and all lines of invocation. Underneath the three photos is an unread Washington Post from this past November.

I ascended the staircase, keeping my ears open for any sounds of rustling. At the head of the stairs is a small room, the door ajar. A bare mattress sat snug in the far corner, amid fallen sheetrock and plaster. Behind the door I saw dress shirts and suits. I walk back into the hall and past the bathroom with the upturned bathtub and toilet laying on its side.

In the far room, Clothes strewn everywhere, a king size bed headboard sans bed, a plastic lawn chair, a DirecTV remote with no television to control. Running up in the home alone, without the better company of a friend, I feel I should get going.

Passing a closed green door, I heard the static of a raspy cough. Time to get ghost. I slipped down the stairs, knowing the man behind the green door will not pursue what he likely thinks is a fellow squatter just looking for a small poor man's piece of the rock, an abandominium.

Over debris, clothes, beer cans, and drug paraphernalia I passed through the living room, crouched under a long board that's presumably been set up as a barrier between the kitchen and further entryway into the abandominium for a less able-bodied person. My first and last self-guided tour of an Anacostia abandominium.

I give Alston-El a call, telling him what I saw.

"What's the waiting list for housing in this city, 45,000? Me and you could find that many units and more in all these abandominiums," Alston-El says. A painter-by-trade, Alston-El repeats his lament, "They fix these places up and then there'd be jobs for everyone from the community who can work with their hands. It could create some small businesses. Yeah, but they don't want to do that, you see, because it would save the neighborhood. But, nope, too much like right."

It was at 8 o'clock on the evening of Sunday, January 31, 1892, that [Howard J.] Schneider shot his wife, Amanda Hamlink Schneider, and his brother-in-law, Frank Hamlink, almost in front of their father's door, on [1733] Q Street between Seventeenth and Eighteenth. Schneider was a young electrician when he met Amanda Hamlink, in the summer of 1891.

He was of good family, not a bad-looking young fellow, who dressed well and drove fast horses. He made love to the young lady, became engaged to her, and one day in June when they were out driving he produced a marriage license and threatened to shoot himself unless she married him at once. Miss Hamlink yielded, and a minister in Hyattsville performed the ceremony.

The marriage was kept a secret until fall, when the young woman's father discovered it. Then there was a scene, the father suspecting at first that the marriage had been a fraud, and requiring Schneider to produce the certificate. After that Schneider went to the Hamlink house to live. His cruelties made the life of his wife an unhappy one. More than once he threatened to shoot her. Finally he began staying out late at night, and after due warning was locked out from the Hamlink house.

About this time, a few weeks before the tragedy, he became enamored of a young girl from Virginia who was visiting [her sister who also lived on that same Q Street block]. He determined to secure a divorce from his wife, and made preparations to go to Chicago. On the Sunday evening of the tragedy he had sent a colored man to the house with a note asking if his wife intended to live with him.

While he was waiting for an answer across the street from the house, his wife, with her brother and sister, walked down Q Street from Eighteenth. Schneider crossed over to them, leaving his chum, Marion Appleby on the south side of the street.

Grasping at his wife roughly by the wrist, he told her he wanted to speak to her. The brother interfered. Schneider drew a revolver and fired five shots. Three of them entered the body of his wife, whom he still held by the hand, one pierced Frank Hamlink's breast, and the fifth crashed through the window of the Hamlink house.

Frank Hamlink fell into the street, dying almost instantly. Mrs. Schneider was able to walk into the house. She languised until the 6th of February, and left a dying declaration detailing the circumstances of the crime.

Howard Schneider threw down his revolver by the body of Frank Hamlink and fled. Within a half hour he walked into the nearest police station and gave himself up, saying he did the deed in self-defense.

Although most of us have never heard a thing about it, Howard Schneider's trial was one of the most infamous the city has ever experienced. The Washington Post's April 10, 1892 edition (the day after the verdict) was the largest edition it had ever published up to that time. 10,000 additional copies and an extra came off the presses.

Many witnesses were called, and in a dramatic twist, most of them lived on T.F.'s block of Q Street row houses. This meant that they knew both the Hamlink and Schneider families and some were still indebted to T.F. for the property.

When T.F. took the stand, he was accused of intimidating some of his neighbors. In one instance, he had sold a Q Street row house to a Mr. Bean and still held 2 notes for $2000 against him. Before Mrs. Bean testified at trial, T.F. had told the Beans that he could renew the note. After she testified, T.F. wrote Mr. Bean that he would no longer do so because he was unsatisfied with his wife's testimony.

Howard and his friends did their best to plant evidence that he acted in self-defense, but the prosecution was able to debunk most of these details. They proved that Howard stole Hamlink's gun, shot him with it, and then threw it by his body. They showed that Howard planted a second gun and that he created fake bullet holes in his own clothing.

Perhaps the most telling and dramatically sad testimony of the trial came from Mrs. Schneider, Howard and T.F.'s mother, who was forced to describe the mental instability of her son. Of Howard, she said:

He was always talking to himself in his room…and would swear at me or some imaginary person. When I went upstairs to remonstrate with him he would slam the door and swear. He would leave the house after breakfast in pleasant spirits, and would return to lunch out of temper. Often he would break out at the table violently. He had trouble with everyone with whom he had dealings, and always complained that they were against him. He was constantly making appointments and failing to keep them.

Howard's important family bought him good lawyers, but that was all they could do to help him. For the year after he was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death, his attorneys appealed to overturn the conviction on insanity grounds. They brought the case as high as the US Supreme Court, which refused to step in. On March 17, 1893, after President Cleveland denied clemency, Howard J. Schneider was hanged in the DC District jail.

Cross-posted at The Location.

Systemic forces like white flight, black flight, redlining, blockbusting, wage stagnation created this problem, and numerous challenges impede reinvestment in neighborhoods like this one.

There are 2,232 addresses on the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs' (DCRA) vacant and blighted properties list, the principal data source for the maps above. The list includes 4022 South Capitol Street as well as the two apartment buildings immediately adjacent to it.

These are not normal short term vacancies, simply between leases. They are the buildings that are unleasable in their current state of disrepair. Some are bank owned, some are city owned. Some have absentee owners, some have local owners who live in poverty and have no means with which to fix up their assets.

In some cases, the owner listed on the title is deceased and there are multiple heirs to the property. Many require a significant investment of time and money before they can again be occupied.

The purpose of DCRA's list is to identify targets for the District's first line of defense against dilapidated buildings: taxation. By threatening to raise property taxes to 5% for vacant properties and 10% for blighted properties, the city encourages the owner to either bring the property up to code or sell it to someone who will, probably at a price less than what the owner would otherwise be willing to accept.

Ultimately, if the owner neither takes action nor pays the elevated taxes, the property goes to tax sale and is awarded to the highest bidder. If no one bids, ownership rights go to the city, but that doesn't mean that a fresh title magically appears in the name of the District of Columbia. The District, like any other winning bidder, must first go through foreclosure proceedings, sorting through existing liens on the property and attempting to resolve any other title issues that exist.

In other words, no one, least of all the District government, wants it to get to that point. This approach is a relatively new, boutique initiative that seems to have promise, as Lydia DePillis has thoroughly described.

In the grander scheme of things, there are really three variables that affect the rehabilitation or redevelopment of nuisance properties:

1. Acquisition cost: the cost of purchasing the property, which may include substantial legal fees, and interest or investor payments on borrowed money.
   
2. Redevelopment cost: site preparation (potentially including demolition), design and construction costs, interim maintenance and taxes, debt payments.
   
3. Income from the redeveloped property: the income that the property generates once it is redeveloped and operational, whether in the form of net operating income if the owner chooses to lease it out, or income from the sale of the property minus any costs associated with the sale.

For redevelopment to make sense, the sum of the first two variables must be less than the third, and when it doesn't, the free market won't mitigate vacant properties and blight.

The first two solutions presented require a taxpayer subsidy. Is it justified?

It is easier to quantify the costs associated with rehabilitating blighted properties than it is to quantify the benefits. The broken windows theory suggests that blight can encourage and support illegal activities, but it is difficult to measure to what extent that is the case.

Blight may lower surrounding property values and deter new investment. It can also contribute to the stigmatization of a neighborhood if dilapidated properties are seen as representative of the entire community. Across the country, the consensus seems to be that investing public funds in individual nuisance properties in order to battle the negative effects of disinvestment is a worthy cause.

The Gray administration, like previous administrations, uses a combination of the three strategies discussed in the previous graphic to combat long-term vacancy and blight, though there seems to be an intentional focus on Solution #3. Dedicating a greater share of energy and resources to large-scale economic development projects, which in Ward 8 tend to revolve around St. Elizabeths, is certainly a more glamorous approach and it probably will have a greater impact on the District's bottom line in the long run.

However, it is interesting that there has not been a more coordinated, ambitious, or heavily-funded government proposal for dealing directly with vacant and blighted properties where they are most concentrated. After all, this is the topic that Ward 8 residents ranked as their top development-related priority at the Ward 8 Community Summit, and unfortunately it is an issue that will forever be intertwined with the tragic events that occurred two years ago at 4022 South Capitol St SE.

WMATA has also started replacing signs at the station, formerly known as New York Avenue-Florida Avenue-Gallaudet University with its new name: NoMa-Gallaudet U. This is one of several station name changes the WMATA board recently approved.

Metro recently posted a sign on the existing racks, saying that it will be moving them farther from the wall on May 10, and installed 27 new racks. There used to be 8 racks at the N Street entrance to the station, and 5 racks at the M Street entrance. Now, there are 30 at the N Street entrance, and 10 at the M Street entrance.

While these improvements are excellent, Metro should still consider installing racks inside the station for even more safety. Theft has declined, but I've noticed a recent uptick in missing front wheels.

It's fantastic to see Metro responding to the demand for more and better bicycle parking. There are probably more racks now than absolutely necessary to accommodate the people who bike there on an average day, but now that nearby residents have this bike parking, hopefully more will start cycling to the NoMa-Gallaudet U Station.

The technology, similar to night vision, has not hit the streets yet. Tests at a police shooting range have demonstrated the technology's effectiveness is limited to around 5 meters, but NYPD would like to achieve 25 meters.

DC is not involved in similar research.

"Our best bet is that the Secret Service develops it and then lets us use it," said Kristopher Baumann, Chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police's Metropolitan Police Department Labor Committee.

Baumann praised Ray Kelly, NYPD's Commissioner, for advancing his department's use of new technology to improve public safety. "Ray Kelly and NYPD are 100 years ahead of us," Baumann said.

But the Metropolitan Police Department has made investments in other technologies under Police Chief Cathy Lanier.

Public listservs now include more than 10,000 members and allow citizens to read arrest and crime reports in almost real time. MPD has installed speed cameras around the city, added closed-circuit television cameras, and ShotSpotter devices, which immediately alert police to the sound of gunfire, in high-crime areas.

Not all technology investments are working, however. A 2011 study by the Urban Institute concluded the city's more than 70 neighborhood crime cameras do not have a measurable effect on crime.

Surveillance of the city's foreboding corners and hardscrabble courtyards began in summer 2006 by Chief Charles Ramsey, now police chief in Philadelphia, with funds from the DC Council to install nearly 50 cameras. Cameras are reportedly monitored from a single control center with a police officer at the rank of lieutenant or higher present at all times. They retain footage for 10 days.

According to the study's analysis of DC's network, "[B]ecause the video cannot be zoomed in after-the-fact without distorting the image, the footage is often too granular to make positive identifications. Cameras are also sensitive to changes in weather and lighting and do not always maintain a continuous flow of coverage." The study cited the "limited use of camera footage in court cases" as evidence that cameras don't help solve or prosecute cases.

Another weapon police have used in recent years to combat crime with mixed results is the Global Positioning System. While ankle monitoring bracelets have been in use for nearly three decades, in recent years these devices have been equipped with GPS. To a determined executioner in the Barry Farm neighborhood this gadget was of no consequence; while equipped with a court-mandated GPS ankle bracelet prosecutors believe Alonzo Marlow committed two murders.

Last month the Supreme Court issued a ruling against the MPD and law enforcement agencies across the country, deciding that the warrantless use of a tracking device on a suspect's vehicle to monitor movements on public streets violated the Fourth Amendment. In response to the Supreme Court decision, the FBI announced last week they were turning off nearly 3,000 GPS devices, many of them stuck underneath cars.

In 2009, Chief Lanier declared, "We're targeting for under 100 [homicides], and I think we can do it if we give everything we've got." With 132 murders recorded in 2010 and 108 last year, Lanier is knocking at the door of her stated goal.

At this time last year, there were 15 homicides in the city. This year there have been 12.

According to the most recent statistics, MPD has recovered 311 illegal firearms this year. Last year, 1,919 total guns were recovered, the fewest recovered since 2003.

A DC law enforcement officer who spoke on the condition of anonymity envisions where and how new gun-spotting equipment could be used throughout our region. "It could prevent a lot of the violence at the Go-Go shows. You could single them out one by one," the officer said. "It could make everyone safer."