Dear PoPville – Have You Noticed an Increase in Petty Crime?

Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80

Dear PoPville,

Just a quick email about small crime in Columbia Heights: It may be recent warm weather, but it seems like there an increase in thuggery. Last Saturday, I parked my car on Columbia Rd right at 14th (on the east side of 14th) to run into 7-11. I was gone for literally 4-5 minutes and in that time someone had broken through my car window and stole a lot of my stuff, including my laptop, a hard drive, and even my clothes. This was at 12:30PM, in the middle of the day! The police told me that since I live in Columbia Heights I should have known better than to park there since I have out-of-state tags.

And just last night at 8:30, a friend of mine, who happens to be a martial arts instructor, had walked through a group of young guys who were just hanging outside of the CVS on 14th and Irving harassing people. These guys were getting up in everyone’s faces, even striking women and old people. Well, they made a mistake when they hit my friend because he immediately dropped the thug with a kick to the chest. My friend then proceeded to go into the CVS, but the rest of the group of hooligans followed him in there, looking to settle the score for their fallen comrade. He was able to diffuse the situation enough that he walked out of there without any more altercations, and then, luckily enough, a couple cops were patrolling by and dispersed the group.

I know I probably sound like a curmudgeonly old man, but I mention these because it seems like there’s been a recent uptick in this type of activity in Columbia Heights.