More help is coming in downtown D.C. for residents and business owners who have questions or concerns about crime.
The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) announced Tuesday that it was adding a team of people who will be walking through the downtown area on a regular basis, checking on businesses and addressing residents directly.
They will be easy to spot as they will wear bright red shirts.
“What this allows us to do is really to enhance our presence, building authentic relationships with members of the community, being able to observe and document what folks are seeing on a day-to-day basis,” said the BID’s president Gerren Price.
Members of the team will be stationed in the Chinatown neighborhood at 675 H St. NW, the location of the District’s first “safe commercial corridor hub,” which opened earlier this year.
City leaders said such hubs are meant to connect residents to a range of services, and are staffed by outreach teams from multiple public safety and human services agencies that can respond to challenges in the community, including crime, mental health issues and substance abuse.
According to Price, members of the new safety team will be walking through the community, “using a cutting-edge app that we have on each of their mobile devices that will be able to document what they’re observing” and “track any incidents that come up.”
The team, which has 10 members, is being funded through a $950,000 grant from the city that was given out to the BID and five other organizations in order to “promote public safety and public health through evidence-based activities.”
Price said he hoped to add more members to the team in the near future.
Lindsey Appiah, the District’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice, called the team members “ambassadors.”
“If there are issues or concerns, please speak with our ambassadors,” Appiah said. “One of the things that I say a lot is that we are a federal city, but we’re a local city, and so that means a lot of this is about building relationships.”
Appiah added that while residents are encouraged to report problems to the safety team, they should still call 911 in the event of an emergency.
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