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What a nice neighborhood
redneckandy
Member Posts: 9,716 ✭✭✭✭
I would say somthing about the residents, but that would make me racist.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/22/AR2008112202047.html
Too Much Crime for One Block
Police, Residents Seek Relief in Pr. George's
By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 23, 2008; Page C01
When the "pop, pop, pop" of gunfire sounded on a recent night, residents in the 3300 block of Walters Lane in Forestville said they knew better than to step outside. Instead, one man paced the worn carpet of his apartment, fiddled with the sword and shotgun he keeps propped inside the front door, and eventually wandered back to bed.
On one short block, three men have been killed in the past three weeks. A fourth died there months earlier. Police have logged about 2,800 calls in the past year -- assaults, robberies, thefts and other crimes. The block has become "about as bad as it is" anywhere, said Maj. Andy Ellis, a Prince George's County police spokesman.
"It's gotten worse and worse, and I've had it. We're done," said Michael Burton, 47, a resident who said he no longer cares that his name is known to others because most of the criminals who plague the low-rise brick apartments have learned that Burton routinely calls the police. Burton said his van has been vandalized repeatedly, and his son has been jumped while walking the dog in front of the family's apartment. "Without exaggerating, I've called the police at least 100 times," he said.
Police say the battle for the 3300 block of Walters Lane illustrates the elusive nature of crime in the working-class Maryland suburbs east of the District. A year ago, there were no homicides on Walters Lane, one-third the number of drug-related calls and a sense, police and residents said, that the troubled neighborhood was a little safer.
Police say they know that when they tamp down violence on Walters Lane, it will pop up somewhere else. Earlier in the year, homicides were up in the northern part of the county, especially around Langley Park, while they were below average in Forestville and neighboring Capitol Heights and District Heights. In recent weeks, the trend has reversed.
Police have raised their profile in the past two weeks, blanketing Walters Lane with extra patrol officers, busing in cadets from the police academy to canvass for witnesses and posting rewards for information leading to arrests. Residents say the increased police presence has helped, but detectives have not made any arrests in the three recent killings, and that makes residents fearful.
"It's the worst place I could have ever moved," said a woman who said she moved to Walters Lane over the summer to be closer to her family. The woman agreed to be identified only by her maiden name, Fuller, for fear of retribution from the men she sees drinking and smoking marijuana outside her apartment. "If I can't make it home by 10 o'clock, I will not come home at all. It's not safe."
In interviews last week with Fuller and 10 other residents of the block, a picture emerged of a grinding daily struggle against street crime. The block is part of a complex called the Regency Pointe apartments in an area that police records show has struggled for years with drug dealing, assaults and, occasionally, homicides.
Six of those interviewed said they keep weapons for protection at home. All but one plan to move away by the end of the year. Almost all of them reported being victims of at least one property crime -- theft, vandalism and vehicle damage -- in the past year.
A woman who identified herself as the community manager of Regency Pointe last week refused to give her name and said she knew little about the homicides and other criminal activity. Residents of the block, which runs adjacent to Hil Mar Drive and a strip of dingy carryouts and convenience stores, said management has done little to help curb the violence.
Drug dealers often smash lights in the apartment's stairwells, they said, and groups of men from outside the complex gather throughout the night inside the gates.
Two women who live in the same building said they have been calling each other to coordinate entering and leaving, ever since another woman was pulled into a basement laundry room months ago and raped.
The violence on the block turned deadly Oct. 28. Maurice Alton Stanley, 29, was found with a gunshot wound to the head at the end of a narrow parking lot, police said.
Five days later, Levar Tyran Jones, 29, and Larry Cornel Johnson, 28, were found shot to death in an area even closer to the apartments. Stanley lived around the corner, in the 6400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, police said, but Jones and Johnson were from Calvert County, police said. Maj. Daniel Dusseau, head of major crimes for Prince George's police, said homicide detectives are trying to determine whether the October and November shootings are linked, including analyzing ballistics evidence taken from the scenes and victims, he said.
Maj. Joseph McCann, whose district encompasses Walters Lane, said that although the homicides are deeply troubling, they occurred under circumstances suggesting that the shooters were not randomly targeting residents. He said he hopes the public will soon feel safe.
"The police department is taking these cases very seriously, and we're putting tremendous resources into the community," McCann said. "While we're aware of how frightened residents may be, I want to reassure them that we're doing everything and anything in our power to create a safe environment."
Residents, including Mike Garrett and Burton, said it has been quieter on Walters Lane since police have stepped up patrols. They also said the worst of what happens on Walters Lane might stop if the men who do not live at Regency Pointe are kept from congregating there.
Gloria Davis, 62, agrees, but said that after 15 years in her apartment, she is leaving Walters Lane, regardless.
"These people are like family, even the kids, I've seen their faces every day," she said. "It's the faces I don't know that scare me."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/22/AR2008112202047.html
Too Much Crime for One Block
Police, Residents Seek Relief in Pr. George's
By Aaron C. Davis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 23, 2008; Page C01
When the "pop, pop, pop" of gunfire sounded on a recent night, residents in the 3300 block of Walters Lane in Forestville said they knew better than to step outside. Instead, one man paced the worn carpet of his apartment, fiddled with the sword and shotgun he keeps propped inside the front door, and eventually wandered back to bed.
On one short block, three men have been killed in the past three weeks. A fourth died there months earlier. Police have logged about 2,800 calls in the past year -- assaults, robberies, thefts and other crimes. The block has become "about as bad as it is" anywhere, said Maj. Andy Ellis, a Prince George's County police spokesman.
"It's gotten worse and worse, and I've had it. We're done," said Michael Burton, 47, a resident who said he no longer cares that his name is known to others because most of the criminals who plague the low-rise brick apartments have learned that Burton routinely calls the police. Burton said his van has been vandalized repeatedly, and his son has been jumped while walking the dog in front of the family's apartment. "Without exaggerating, I've called the police at least 100 times," he said.
Police say the battle for the 3300 block of Walters Lane illustrates the elusive nature of crime in the working-class Maryland suburbs east of the District. A year ago, there were no homicides on Walters Lane, one-third the number of drug-related calls and a sense, police and residents said, that the troubled neighborhood was a little safer.
Police say they know that when they tamp down violence on Walters Lane, it will pop up somewhere else. Earlier in the year, homicides were up in the northern part of the county, especially around Langley Park, while they were below average in Forestville and neighboring Capitol Heights and District Heights. In recent weeks, the trend has reversed.
Police have raised their profile in the past two weeks, blanketing Walters Lane with extra patrol officers, busing in cadets from the police academy to canvass for witnesses and posting rewards for information leading to arrests. Residents say the increased police presence has helped, but detectives have not made any arrests in the three recent killings, and that makes residents fearful.
"It's the worst place I could have ever moved," said a woman who said she moved to Walters Lane over the summer to be closer to her family. The woman agreed to be identified only by her maiden name, Fuller, for fear of retribution from the men she sees drinking and smoking marijuana outside her apartment. "If I can't make it home by 10 o'clock, I will not come home at all. It's not safe."
In interviews last week with Fuller and 10 other residents of the block, a picture emerged of a grinding daily struggle against street crime. The block is part of a complex called the Regency Pointe apartments in an area that police records show has struggled for years with drug dealing, assaults and, occasionally, homicides.
Six of those interviewed said they keep weapons for protection at home. All but one plan to move away by the end of the year. Almost all of them reported being victims of at least one property crime -- theft, vandalism and vehicle damage -- in the past year.
A woman who identified herself as the community manager of Regency Pointe last week refused to give her name and said she knew little about the homicides and other criminal activity. Residents of the block, which runs adjacent to Hil Mar Drive and a strip of dingy carryouts and convenience stores, said management has done little to help curb the violence.
Drug dealers often smash lights in the apartment's stairwells, they said, and groups of men from outside the complex gather throughout the night inside the gates.
Two women who live in the same building said they have been calling each other to coordinate entering and leaving, ever since another woman was pulled into a basement laundry room months ago and raped.
The violence on the block turned deadly Oct. 28. Maurice Alton Stanley, 29, was found with a gunshot wound to the head at the end of a narrow parking lot, police said.
Five days later, Levar Tyran Jones, 29, and Larry Cornel Johnson, 28, were found shot to death in an area even closer to the apartments. Stanley lived around the corner, in the 6400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, police said, but Jones and Johnson were from Calvert County, police said. Maj. Daniel Dusseau, head of major crimes for Prince George's police, said homicide detectives are trying to determine whether the October and November shootings are linked, including analyzing ballistics evidence taken from the scenes and victims, he said.
Maj. Joseph McCann, whose district encompasses Walters Lane, said that although the homicides are deeply troubling, they occurred under circumstances suggesting that the shooters were not randomly targeting residents. He said he hopes the public will soon feel safe.
"The police department is taking these cases very seriously, and we're putting tremendous resources into the community," McCann said. "While we're aware of how frightened residents may be, I want to reassure them that we're doing everything and anything in our power to create a safe environment."
Residents, including Mike Garrett and Burton, said it has been quieter on Walters Lane since police have stepped up patrols. They also said the worst of what happens on Walters Lane might stop if the men who do not live at Regency Pointe are kept from congregating there.
Gloria Davis, 62, agrees, but said that after 15 years in her apartment, she is leaving Walters Lane, regardless.
"These people are like family, even the kids, I've seen their faces every day," she said. "It's the faces I don't know that scare me."
Comments
sure you can find a few white trash neighborhoods it happens occasionally, but i watch it happen on the news EVERYDAY in north saint louis
as i have stated many times and will continue with my beliefs, shootings in the hood are the sole reason for gun control, deduct them from the yearly amount of gun crimes and you remove 95%
Howdy neighbor!
I say pull all th cops out and let the problem take care of its self.
Won't change anything. Drug related shootings are territorial. The goal is for seller "X" to be replaced by seller "Y"..and then it's back to "business as usual". Joe