Paying Attention to Drug Arrests in Washington
I know a lot of people weren’t happy with MPD’s decision last year to do away with Police District-based vice units in favor of a centralized approach (me being among them). However, one thing MPD began doing that I do like is they begain compiling and distributing weekly Narcotics and Special Investigations Division Activity Reports via the MPD listservs. Their first report was sent out on June 15, 2016.
I’ve been looking over these reports with great interest and am trying to find a way to report the information out to the broader community. The reports have three basic types of information: 1) Narcotic Enforcement Unit Arrests, 2) Gun Recovery Unit Arrests, and 3) Criminal Interdiction Unit Arrests.
I’m particularly interested in the narcotic enforcement arrests — especially as these events are not tracked by the DC Crime Map. Looking at the report for August 13, 2016 (see full report on 4D listserv) I’ve created the following map showing the locations of drug arrests and color coded them to the type of drugs involved. Of the 25 reports listed, 5 (or 20%) were for arrests located in Ward 1 — all in Columbia Heights (mostlye crack cocaine) and Park View (heroin). No narcotic events occurred in Wards 3 or 6 this week.
(Quick key to map: Green=Marijuana / Yellow=Crack Cocaine / Red=Heroin / Brown=Synthetic Cannabinoids) Explore posts in the same categories: MPD, Public Safety
Tags: drug arrests, MPD, Public Safety
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Park View, D.C. 
August 15, 2016 at 11:46 am
It’s,no,surprise about the heroine arrests in park view based on the number of,times,I see people shooting up on park place, just wish they would get the local dealers that bring these people here instead.
August 15, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Yes, people come in from all over to purchase the drugs. It is pretty easy to figure out where they are getting it if you just walk around, they are not very discrete