Crime Update on MPD 1st District with Commander Colin Hall

Crime Update in MPD 1st District with Commander Colin Hall

By Larry Janezich

Posted March 6, 2024

Last night, MPD 1^st District Commander Colin Hall updated the community on crime issues at the monthly virtual meeting of the Citizens Advisory Council (CAC).  https://1dcac.com/

He said that compared with the first two months of 2023, there has been an over-all decrease in crime of 4% and a double digit decrease in homicides, robberies and stolen autos.  He expects a tic-up in crime will come in the spring with warmer weather and more people moving around.  2023 saw crime increase in March, April, May and June.

Here are some other takeaways.  MPD:  

• Remains focused on gun violence and has seen an up-tic in SW areas and around 15th and 17th Streets, and Independence Avenue, SE.
• Has increased resources in those areas and has partnered with DC Department of Housing Police in response to shootings around Potomac Gardens resulting from neighborhood disputes.
• Is adding more bike patrols to H Street, NE. 
• Has increased patrolling in alleys in the commercial corridors in response to burglaries.
• Has partnered with Metro Transit Police in patrols around Metro stops.

(A wealth of information on crime in the city is available on the MPD Crime Card website, here:  https://crimecards.dc.gov/ For example you can find a detailed map of the crimes which have occurred within 1,000 feet of your home address.)

Hall said MPD has seen a “big difference in Chinatown – it has a different feel to it” and noted the Mayor’s HUB facility there is showing results.  The HUB is a pilot project which locates an office in a crime hotspot which provides access to MPD, the Department of Human Services (homeless and youth services), Behavioral Health, and the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations.  Two more HUBs are scheduled to launch in the near future – one in Ward 1 at 14th and U Streets, and one in Ward 8 in Anacostia. 

ANC6A Chair Amber Gove, who is a regular promoter of and presence at the CAC meetings, asked Hall how to get a HUB for 8th Street, NE.  He replied that the Mayor is spearheading the HUB project and her office is deciding where they go.  The pilot program is engaged in a process of ironing out the kinks before deciding on future expansion.

Gove continued to urge residents to attend the monthly virtual meetings of the CAC – which has the widest array of personnel available – as the best place to interact and ask questions of the MPD and the US Attorney General’s Office, as well as other representatives of city agencies including the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations. 

Another venue will be available on tomorrow (Thursday) night, when the Spring Public Forum on Understanding Adult Supervised Release will take place.  The Criminal Justice Coordination Council (CJCC) will hold the public meeting on Understanding Adult Supervision in the District of Columbia at 6:00pm at Eastern Market North Hall, 225 7th Street, SE.

Featured:  A panel discussion on adult community supervision pre-and-post conviction in the District of Columbia.

• Moderator Kristy Love, Executive Director, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
• Panelists Victor Davis, Assistant Director, Defendant Engagement and System Support, Pretrial Services Agency.
• Marcus Hodges, Associate Director, Office of Community Supervision & Intervention Services, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.
• Watch Live: tinyurl.com/CJCC-Meeting (see here)   https://bit.ly/3wwXF8E