Columbia Heights Snow Helpers

Driving to work on Thursday morning, I was surprised to find multiple cars being pulled over on both sides of 14th street by a very rude female traffic officer. It clearly appeared that the MPD traffic officers were pulling as many people over to administer for dubious "violations" in order to fill their quota due to the impending government shutdown. I was fined for a "seat belt regulation" for no reason. I was simply told to pull over and was fined $50. When asked to hand over my registration and proof of insurance, I was told that the printout of the online registration was invalid and that I should be fined $500, despite having an up-to-date and valid registration and insurance policy printout. Currently, USAA emails the insurance policy card. However, I was told this would be a $500 fine. When I asked why I was being fined for a "seat belt regulation" when I in fact had my seat belt on, I was told "Just answer me this, do you want me to fine you $500 in addition?" I felt like I was being treated like an innocent person in a place like Sudan or the Congo, where people are stopped routinely by "officers" for "fines" just to line their pockets. Perhaps I am assuming too much, but when 5 other cars are stopped at the same time during rush hour on a busy street in the midst of a looming government shutdown, the actions of these officers are suspect. Furthermore, their blatantly rude behavior (one officer looking on just laughed at the situation) is appalling.

There are frequent car break-ins, in broad daylight, in front of the St Stephen's Church and Urban Village apartments. Police presence in this neighbourhood is so light they apparently have no fear of being caught.

This week we a well organized group of young adults invaded offices at the church two afternoons in a row, with staff present, some of them distracting staff while their friends made off with valuable equipment. Police were nowhere to be seen as they ran down the street carrying the equipment.

Despite numerous police reports the DC police seem to be doing nothing to mitigate this rather disturbing increase of crime in this area.