Here’s a map of the three Sectors comprising MPD District 1
MPD Officials and officers, from Sector 2, First District, met with ten residents of PSA 107 last night. MPD reps from right: Captain John Knutsen, Lieutenant Crystal Beslow, and Sgt. Al Boyd.
Here’s How Policing Will Change on Capitol Hill Under MPD’s New Sector Plan
PSA’s 104, 107 & 108 Constitute Sector Two of First District’s Three Sectors
By Larry Janezich
Thursday night, at the PSA 107 meeting, MPD Captain John Knutson explained the operation of the new Sector Concept instituted January 3 by MPD. It will, he said, bring additional management accountability to districts, allow for faster dispatch, lower response times, and improve service to the community. The sector concept does not eliminate PSAs – those boundaries within the First District remain the same.
Under the Sector model, each patrol district is divided into three sectors with a Sector being an informal grouping of Police Service Areas (PSAs). Each sector will be led by a captain, who will report directly to their respective district commanders. Each Sector will also have 3 Lieutenants on 3 shifts for round the clock coverage.
Knutsen pledged 24 hour availability 7 days a week, and attendance at monthly community PSA meetings in a renewed effort to improve community policing. Lieutenants will share responsibility for overseeing the PSAs and personnel in their sector on any given shift.
According to Knutsen, the main benefit of the Sector Concept is that it will allow MPD to pool resources of the three PSAs and allow police to shift resources where needed to respond to crime patterns.
While Knutsen and his Lieutenants are available 24 hours a day by phone or email, if residents witness a crime in progress, they should call 911.
Knutsen stressed: “For this sector, I am the decision maker and I’ll be at meetings,” referring to PSA meetings. He said that MPD will take a look at meetings to see how they can be structured to better serve the community – or example, next month’s meeting will be held on the first Thursday in Northeast Library. Referring to his fellow captains in charge of Sectors, Knutsen said, “We all run Sectors as little police stations. We’re all competing against each other.”
Officials say they generally answer emails 24/7 and the cell phone when at work.
Captain Knutsen’s contact information:
Cell: 202 438 8486
Lieutenant Crystal Beslow’s contact information:
Cell: 202 437 1714
For more on the Sector Concept, go here: http://bit.ly/2l5tsDV
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 
The boundary lines for sector 1d3 look pretty stupid. They seem to want to put the roughest parts of Capitol Hill into it and keep them out of the others. At the same time, 1d3 has by far the largest physical area to cover–it is going to be difficult to cover Potomac Gardens all the way to SW Waterfront as one sector–especially with the freeway in the way..
The logical way to do it would be to use natural lines (ie. the freeway is a natural boundary) along with Eighth Street for 1d3 and put from Eighth Street to the Anacostia in Sector 1d2.
As it stands, this division will serve only the statistics of 1d1 and 1d2 at the expense of 1d3. More, it will give very poor coverage from Eighth Street on down through Potomac Gardens and on to the Anacostia. (And don’t come back with a population argument–the physical distance is what is important here).
Why are we piling the worst parts of Capitol Hill and SW into one sector, except to isolate the worst areas of Capitol Hill and SW? We need integration not segregation.
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