In an effort to curb crime in the nation's capital, a new Chinatown Safety Team, clad in distinctive red shirts, has taken to the streets to provide assistance and foster a sense of community. The DowntownDC Business Improvement District has put together a crew aimed at reducing disturbances and enhancing public safety in the Chinatown-Penn Quarter area. “I do it for my own benefit. Basically, I love helping people,” member Demetria Mosley told DCNewsNow, emphasizing their approach to be more polite and community-focused.
The safety team's operations are coordinated from a newly established "safe commercial corridor hub" at 675 H St. NW. City leaders have expressed that such hubs will act as a nexus for connecting locals to a wide array of services, including public safety, mental health, and substance abuse programs. According to reports by WTOP, the safety team uses a cutting-edge app to document incidents, a project funded through a near-million-dollar city grant intended to promote evidence-based safety and health activities. Additional team members are expected to join shortly.
Residents and frequent visitors to the Chinatown area have noted a palpable change in the atmosphere since the safety team's deployment. "It’s a lot going on. Especially coming out the train stations. But it seems as though it’s more peaceful," local Alexis Jefferson said in a statement obtained by FOX 5. Others, too, like Christopher Michael who spends daylight hours in Chinatown, reported feeling "a lot more comfortable" despite acknowledging ongoing concerns.
Trained in de-escalation and capable of administering Narcan, Mosley and her colleagues approach the homeless with offers of help, a process starting with a simple greeting. "Ask them anything I can do to help? First I say hello, how are you? And then they’ll say something back and I’ll say can I do anything for you? Do you need any help, and we’ll go from there," Mosley explained in an interview with FOX 5. The city aims to emulate this initiative in other areas such as U Street and Anacostia, though no specific timeline for these expansions has been given by the Mayor’s office yet.
