Photo by PoPville flickr user jkrehely2002
“Dear PoP,
I apologize in advance for the grossness of this letter, but I have a question about the responsiveness of DC Police. To make a long story short, last week my husband and I witnessed a homeless man, uh, go number 2, on our townhouse doorstep in the middle of the day. He became quite combative when we yelled at him and told him to clean it up. We witnessed the act and, if that was not offensive enough, he smeared it everywhere and went after my husband with his mess-covered hands. I called 911 when we saw him do this, but the police never came.
I mentioned this to our building manager and she said that DC Police respond to calls that they deem important, based on their own prioritization. Now, I don’t mean to say that our situation was as important as an assault or any other nasty crime. However, I was under the impression that police are supposed to respond, no matter what, even if it takes a long time or if it is just to follow up via a phone call or something. This homeless man is seen most days on our block and while I mentioned this to the operator, we still received no response at all from the police. I guess my question is- are they actually allowed to not respond at all if they deem your call to not be as important as others, even if a crime is being or has been committed?”
What an awful experience. It is a situation like this where I wish the city had some sort of rapid response mental health team. What do you think should be the proper response from MPD or other DC agencies in a situation like this?
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