At the Intersection Of Bravado and Fear (Failed 911 call)

Washington Post ^ | 11-02-02 | Brian Barger

[SJackson]

Driving home just before midnight last Sunday, with the sniper suspects in custody, I was relishing my freedom from the shackles of fear that had bound the Washington area for three weeks. As I headed up a quiet, residential stretch of 16th Street , I got on my cell phone and called a friend to talk about how the city had been transformed overnight. "Everyone," I said, "is being nice to each other."

Then: Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!

I had covered wars in Central America for various news organizations. I had no doubt what that sound was. "Gunfire," I told my friend, my voice now shaking. "Gotta go."

I punched up 911; the operator answered almost immediately.

continued......

[SJackson]

pint

[maica]

This is an important article (the first time I have ever said that about the Washington Post.)

President Bush is planning to tour the DC Police Headquarters today. I am praying for his safety!

[GaltMeister]

Maybe we should start a 'hold muh donut' alert for some of these stories of police and FBI incompetence. Sheesh.

[maica]

***
And during the three-week period that the sniper shootings paralyzed the region and filled news reports with fear-mongering, ratings-driven, round-the-clock coverage, such everyday crime continued. There were 239 ADWs (assaults with a deadly weapon) in the District during that period -- 62 of them, like mine, committed with a gun. In 37 of those cases, the gun was fired; 32 people were shot. This does not include the 22 homicides in the District in that period, 18 committed with a gun. The District police, who provided those statistics, could not say how many of those cases had been solved. ****

22 murders in DC while the world was watching coverage of the snipers! And the clearance rate is abysmal.

[maica]

I have to add this tidbit, too.

***
I didn't sleep that night. I replayed the events, imagining how things might have turned out differently. The next night, I called the detective who had been dispatched to take the report.

Fourth District Detective Toni Pollack told me the Maryland tag number still had not been run.

"Huh?" I said, disbelieving. "Is that unusual?"

"No, that's not unusual," she said. "You have to understand we don't have the same computer system" that police in Maryland have. She said she had tried to run the tag the night of the shooting, but "the computer was down." ***

[genefromjersey]

An interesting read - especially because :

Washington, DC has rigid gun laws which are supposed to prevent such incidents. Could it ( gasp ! ) be these laws don't work ??

The gun control folks tells us, all we have to do is call 911, and let the cops handle it.

The Salvadorians in question are probably descendents of the people the Liberals helped hide in this country several years ago. Could these Liberals have been (ulp !) mistaken ????

Nah. Liberals are always right ...even when they're wrong !!!

[Movemout]

"pint "

Lager please and then several more. I don't care to hear the gunfire in the District which has such stringent gun control laws. It creates cognitive dissonance which is, of course, irreconciable with reality. I am staying down at the Marriott in NW tomorrow night. The NW is at least relatively safe from the shooters. The SE is deadly ground.

[Congressman Billybob]

I lived in N.E. D.C. for almost ten years. At night, I learned to distinguish by sound the difference between gun shots from perps (pop, pop, pop-pop) and the riot guns used by police (whump, whump). I never bothered to call in and report "shots fired." It was a waste of time.

This editor for the Washington Post should learn that what happened to him is a logical consequence of the editorial polities of his newspaper. He probably won't learn that, however. Liberals are remarkably thick-headed.

Congressman Billybob

"to Restore Trust in America"

[MissAmericanPie]

You mean they let him print this story? That is the real shocking story here.

[Movemout]

"This editor for the Washington Post should learn that what happened to him is a logical consequence of the editorial polities of his newspaper. He probably won't learn that, however. Liberals are remarkably thick-headed. "

I wish I could add something relevant to this observation, but try as I might I cannot. I think you have nailed it exactly. Good job!

[Redbob]

Just never occurs to dingleberries like that Post writer that, had he been armed, he might have returned fire, and there might today be one less wiolent criminal on the streets.
"Oh, but that's a job for someone else!"

[mvpel]

I just sent him a copy of "Dial 911 and Die" from JPFO:

Who knows, this incident might be an epiphany moment for him, and cause him to rethink his position on gun control.

[Travis McGee]

Incedible and depressing, even DC.