Tag Archives: mpd

News, The Daily Feed
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Late night robbery turns to police shootout in Brookland

Photo courtesy of
‘Badged Audience’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

A home invasion robbery in Brookland last night (10th and Irving Streets NE) turned into a shootout with police late last night, according to Commander Lamar Greene of the Fifth District. Greene reported that officers were responding to a reported burglary in process and “confirmed a home invasion, officers surrounded the home when suddenly the suspects began to exit the house from the rear while firing weapons at the officers, the officers while in fear for their lives returned fire striking the suspects. Two of the suspects were transported to area hospitals, another suspect was taken into custody as well.”

None of the responding officers were injured in the response.  The suspects are being questioned as to involvement in a string of local home invasions, according to Commander Greene.

News, The Daily Feed
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Assistant Chief Diane Groomes restored to duty

groomes_diane.jpg

After a month’s suspension related to test-taking inside the Police Department, MPD Assistant Chief Diane Groomes has been reinstated after an investigation into the allegation.  Groomes was vindicated when the investigators found the test to have been open book and that no one had compromised the answer key to the test, according to the Post’s Theola Labbé-DeBose.

All Politics is Local, Crime & Punishment, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
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MPD, with Secret Service, Arrest ATM Robbery Suspect

atm robbery suspect, courtesy of MPD

As reported yesterday, the MPD arrested a suspect in connection to a series of armed ATM robberies in the First and Second Police Districts.

Prior to the May 19th arrest, the MPD had obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect, John Fenley Woodland, based on evidence from a robbery that occurred on May 5th along the 600 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW.

The suspect was apprehended on the evening of May 19th when U.S. Secret Service agents observed him committing an armed ATM robbery near the 800 block of 17th Street, NW.  The agents stopped the robbery, arrested the suspect and awaited MPD response. When MPD arrived the suspect was immediately recognized as Woodland, taken into custody and charged with two count of Armed Robbery for the May 5th and 19th incidents.

MPD detectives are currently investigating Mr. Woodland in connection to 10 robberies and potentially other similar offenses.

Crime & Punishment, News, The Daily Feed
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ATM Bandit On The Loose

atm robbery suspect, courtesy of MPD

UPDATE (May 21, 2010 8:50am): According to MPD’s Matthew Klein, an arrest has been made in connection to these armed robberies.  The MPD is now actively reviewing all cases and determining which robberies the suspect, arrested last night, is connected to. The suspect is currently being held without bail.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is warning Northwest DC residents about an ATM machine robber working in their neighborhoods. The suspect’s (pictured above) most recent robbery occurred the DC’s First District on the 600 block of Massachusetts Avenue, NW. MPD believes this suspect is responsible for other similar robberies in the Second District.

The suspect’s MO is to approach individuals withdrawing money from ATM machines, and force them to withdraw additional funds while threatening to harm them. Several of the victims have stated that the suspect is armed with a knife.

As always, use caution when using ATMs and be aware of your surroundings. Should you see anyone matching this description, or if you observe anyone acting suspiciously, call 911 immediately.

News, The Daily Feed
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DC Fire/EMS/Police Communications Down For Five Hours

Photo courtesy of
‘red white and blue’
courtesy of ‘willmeyer’

An electrical problem at the city’s Office of Unified Communications brought DC’s primary radio system for emergency responders to a halt on Monday night around 7:15pm. According to NBC4, system went down for about five hours, causing DC Fire/EMS and MPD to default back to their backup radios.

DC operates a trunked radio system for emergency responders, meaning that there is one master control facility for all the radio communications for the city. There are several transmission facilities, but it’s all routed through the computers near the big antenna cluster by McMillan Reservoir. The whole system went down due to a power problem, forcing responders to their backup radios. While there was confusion for a short while, the city’s policies for maintaining backup radio channels with Arlington and Montgomery County on the 800Mhz band allowed for an easy switch back to working communications centers. DC Fire/EMS set up a temporary command center at 6th and F St NW to coordinate extra assistance during the five hour outage.

Crime & Punishment, Fun & Games, News, People, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Snowballer Cop Keeps his Badge

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_2384’
courtesy of ‘AJ Ashton’

It appears that in the MPD, pulling your gun on innocent citizens isn’t a fireable offense.  This is lucky for Detective Mike Baylor, who, you’ll remember, didn’t take kindly to his hummer being hit by snowballs and waved his gun at some people involved in a U St. snowball fight. A few months have passed, and after some measure of deliberation, MPD decided Baylor could keep his badge. DC Police Chief Lanier stated that Baylor did violate department protocol but that his offense didn’t merit termination.  So, be wary of red hummers and keep your snowballs hidden away.  You never know when Baylor might roll up to inflict some justice on your ass.

The Daily Feed
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Taxi Hits Bike in Georgetown

Bicyclist hit by Dulles taxi at 31st and M St, Georgetown

Update: More details on the accident from WashCycle.

I walked by this scene at 31st and M in Georgetown last night: squad cars and yellow tape around a Washington Flyer taxi, its windshield badly cracked, a mangled bicycle under its tires. Vnangia tweets that the accident was fatal. MPD had officers directing traffic around the scene (which got a bit confusing for drivers and pedestrians alike as the traffic lights were still running at the time, nearly causing more accidents), and M Street was backed up significantly. (But then, when isn’t it?)

Also mentioned on Georgetown Metropolitan. No mention on the MPD-2D mailing list. Anyone else see what happened?

Inaugupocalypse, The Daily Feed, The Hill, WTF?!
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The Scene at Union Station

With most of Union Station’s Grand Hall reserved for tonight’s inaugural ball, and the Metro station and rail concourse already packed to capacity, the crowd entering Union Station had to be divided into Metro, Amtrak, and MARC/VRE riders. Confusion reigned outside as the Columbus Circle road was closed off, forcing people to circle around sidewalks and fences and clumps of National Guard and MPD personnel.

How was it for you?

Crime & Punishment, Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, WTF?!
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MPD Divers in the Potomac

Police Divers in the Potomac

What was up with those MPD scuba divers in the Potomac just off Washington Harbour this morning? Did someone throw evidence into the river? Or was someone sent to sleep with the snakeheads in cement shoes? In any case, thanks to the officers for letting me go pseudo-paparazzi on the diving action this morning and indulging me in a bit of scuba talk. No way I’d dive in the cold, muddy Potomac River right by a sewer outlet in December — unless the city was paying me for it.

Downtown, News, People, The Daily Feed
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Beware Bob’s Black Corvette!

So I was running a bit late for work this morning and took a cab. As we passed through downtown, WTOP on the radio warned of traffic around 18th and K Streets NW, as a pedestrian had been hit by a car around that intersection. As luck would have it, the taxi had just arrived there, and sure enough there was a backup of about half a block — nothing too bad, and I got to work just fine.

Well, guess who hit the pedestrian: Robert Novak, in his black Corvette. He says he didn’t even know he’d hit anyone till a passing biker told him. Police detained Novak on the scene for about an hour and gave him a citation (no arrest); the pedestrian, as yet unnamed, was brought to GWU with arm pain. WJLA has posted a raw video interview with Novak immediately following his emergence from an MPD cruiser.

Update: Additional info, commentary, and schadenfreude from Washington Post, DCist, Politico, TMZ (where he blames NPR for distracting him), Think Progress, Wonkette, and The Carpetbagger Report.

Crime & Punishment, Downtown, The Daily Feed, The District, WTF?!
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How Can I Stop What Isn’t Going On?!

That’s the gist of what Judge Richard Leon is saying in response to the request from the Partnership for Civil Justice, who want the program that debuted DC’s Trinidad neighborhood from ever being used again. Specifically, he raised the concern that since there’s no current implementation of the “Neighborhood Safety Zones” plan, where exactly would he enjoin the MPD from operating?

Looks like we get to see this one played out only after the MPD tries to put the cordon up around another of DC’s neighborhoods.