'National Night Out' organized to fight crime in Northeast D.C.
WASHINGTON (WJLA) -- Northeast Washington may be safer than it used to be, but there is still plenty of crime to be fighting. "National Night Out" is being organized to do just this.
"It's cleaner, it's safer, we don't have to worry about people selling AK-47s at noontime out of the rear of their trunks," says commissioner Kathy Henderson of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission.
Henderson has lived in the area a long time and knows just how violent it used to be. But she has joined people in places like Alexandria and Bowie in organizing a “National Night Out” because she says her neighbors need to come together to fight crime that still exists in the neighborhood.
"We had no knowledge of any of that in the neighborhood,” says one neighbor from nearby Gales Street who was completely unaware of the stray bullets that hit three homes on her block in the past three months.
The 1500 block of Gales looks like a nice neighborhood, but a neighbor who did not want to be identified says that last week, a bullet entered the front door of her home and exited through the back.
"That definitely dampens that feeling of security and safety," she says.
According to Henderson:, the neighborhood desperately needs more police around, and encourages residents to attend 'National Night Out:'
"When citizens speak up, when they get involved, the crime diminishes."
