PG (Pretty Gory) County News Beat:

Murder at Belford Reveals
Shortage of PG Cops
Police bureaucrats refuse to allow DC, PG cops talk to each other on radios...
Metro Mania;
Commentary on the News by Alan Henney

(April 18, 2005) --- Around 6:30 Sunday evening, a citizen called P.G. County's 9-1-1
center reporting shots fired and a man down in the Belford Towers
parking lot.

As a writer and photographer, and somebody who is concerned about what
happens in the neighborhood, I decided to walk to the Belford Towers
to see firsthand what was happening.

What I discovered was upsetting and I'm not certain where to
begin -this includes a delayed and flawed police response with no
notification to Takoma Park police; no paramedic available for a dying
man; and a dilapidated apartment complex lacking basic recreational
facilities.

The Belford Towers consists of three massive 12-story apartment
buildings across the city line from Takoma Park in the 6700-block of
New Hampshire Avenue.  The rear of the complex, which borders the
cross-country power lines, is littered with discarded furniture and
other debris.

All of the P.G. county police in District I (Hyattsville Dist.) were
tied up on a barricade that followed a shooting in Landover Hills
Sunday.  To give an idea of how large and understaffed District I is,
the district covers the area inside the Beltway north of Route 50 to
the county line.  See: http://tinyurl.com/czdz3 for a map.  Police
calls stacked up for hours in District I during the Landover Hills
barricade.  No officers were available.

Two patrol officers who finally arrived at the Belford Towers came
from P.G.P.D.'s District VI (Beltsville Dist.).  One officer traveled
15 miles to arrive at the crime scene.  He was one of the two officers
from District VI to arrive and secure the crime scene for homicide
detectives.

This past weekend's Washington Post article addresses the department's
staffing problems: http://tinyurl.com/8ugnj.  The Belford has hired
off-duty police and sheriff officers as security guards in the past.
But I did not see them Sunday.

About 40 minutes lapsed before a Takoma Park police officer asked the
Takoma Park police dispatcher to check with P.G. County regarding the
police activity.  That's when Takoma Park police learned of the
shooting.

Just how are the cross-border policing grants spent?  Any priority
police calls received on New Hampshire Avenue along the Takoma Park
border, or on Eastern Avenue along the D.C. line, should automatically
be provided to Takoma Park police.

Had Takoma Park police been alerted to the shooting and the fact that
no county officer was available, Takoma Park could have responded to
preserve the crime scene for P.G., and provide a lookout.  But then,
again, Takoma Park police cannot talk directly with P.G. police.

Taxpayers have been promised "interoperability" for years with each
new communications system.  But P.G., Takoma Park and D.C. police
officers still cannot and do not directly communicate with each other
using radios.  The technology is already in place, but the departments
refuse to utilize it.  Takoma Park's old radios could be easily
reprogrammed on the PGPD channels.

The Chillum ambulance crew arrived on the scene and discovered the man
shot multiple times, including once in the head.  No medic unit was in
close proximity, a common problem especially along the county line.
The man lapsed into cardiac arrest and the ambulance crew took him to
Washington Adventist Hospital, rather than MedSTAR, as they would have
done otherwise.

Ironically, the Takoma Park fire station is a fraction of a mile
closer to this address, but P.G. uses a half-mile preference policy
when dispatching its fire/EMS units before asking for Montgomery
County's.

I feel bad for the people who live in the Belford Towers, especially
the children.  After talking with the officers, I looked at the
basketball courts.  The complex has what appears to be three full-size
basketball courts - all six hoops were busted.  While I could have
overlooked it, I saw no playground for younger children.  I hope there
's a playground hidden there somewhere?

Why do I mention this?  These children risk their lives every day
crossing New Hampshire Avenue to visit Forest Park.  All too often
children who have nothing to do, find trouble.  Do large apartment
complexes in P.G. Co. have any obligation to provide tenants with
recreation facilities?  Can our city council put pressure on the
management company to do its part, or ask Jack Johnson to help?

Some of the money spent on Forest Park renovations, such as the two
$4,000 ceramic pillars, would have gone a long way just three blocks
away providing simple recreation.  But it's as if these people don't
count, they are not Takoma Park or Montgomery County taxpayers, yet
Forest Park is practically their only park.