Community Crime-Fighting Goes Cellular in the District

 By Theola Labbé-DeBose
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 2, 2008; A01

D.C. police have launched a citywide text messaging system to alert residents about crimes soon after they occur and ask for their help.

The system, known as D.C. Police Alert, offers a short recap of the crime, a description of the suspect and instructions to call 911 if they see anyone matching the description.

It also adds some prudent advice to any would-be hero: "Do not take action," the bulletin implores.

The alerts, which can also be received as e-mail, go out within hours of the crime, which beats waiting for a crime report at the monthly community meeting.

The system, pushed through by a local business owner, became available throughout the city Oct. 15. Business owners and business districts are considered the prime subscribers, although police expect individuals will sign up, too, which can be done at 72hours.dc.gov.

D.C. Police Alert represents a cultural shift in policing as police departments leverage consumer technology for official law enforcement use.

Of the 11 other cities and five counties in the region that have text alert notification systems, most use them for traffic and weather alerts, although they can be used for mass notifications in emergencies. The systems are part of a regional program that is funded by a federal homeland security grant, said Merni Fitzgerald, a spokeswoman for Fairfax County, which oversees the $820,000 grant.

The District is considered a regional leader in sending out alerts about specific crimes.

"Some may use it as a vehicle to send out crime information, but D.C. may be the only . . . jurisdiction that actually sends out crime text alert messages," Fitzgerald said.

As law enforcement agencies balance their normal duties with the added responsibilities of terrorism prevention since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, overburdened police are relying more on residents to be crime-fighting partners. Residents across the country are getting the message, literally.

Citizens of Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Spartanburg, S.C., have received text messages about missing persons, purse snatchers, robberies, stolen Christmas lights -- even a missing iPod, said Terry Halsch, president of CitizenObserver.com, a Minnesota company that works in 37 states on crime text messaging. In these examples, he said, tipsters responded after reading the text message, and detectives solved the cases.

Sgt. Eric Franz , who manages a volunteer corps for the Cincinnati police, has seen the usefulness of crime messaging.

After a 2004 bank robbery, Cincinnati police sent out an alert to businesses in the Zip code where the robbery took place. A merchant called and said a man matching the robber's description had just bought a change of clothes, which he donned in the dressing room, and boarded a bus across the street. Police caught up with the suspect on the bus about 15 minutes later, Franz said.

"We're seeing more and more crimes solved because people are tuned in to getting these alerts," Franz said.

There have been no similar success stories since the District system, which began as an experiment in Georgetown, went citywide. But business owner Ed Solomon is hopeful.

Solomon, 64, got the idea for text messaging crime alerts when a store was robbed near his bridal and formalwear shop. Police came by a few days later to drop off a wanted poster. By then, the suspect was long gone. "We can do better than that," Solomon thought.

Solomon had helped the District create its initial emergency notification program, DC Alert. Since 2004, it has sent text message warnings about traffic, weather and emergencies.

Working with police officers and officials from Roam Secure Alert Network, who were running the DC Alert program, Solomon and a group of business owners started receiving crime alerts about robberies in Georgetown. They liked it. So city officials decided to offer it in other neighborhoods.

"Instead of eight or nine officers looking for the bad guy, you have thousands of people," Solomon said.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the program is another effort by the force to become closer partners with the community. Among other things, the police have a Web site, crimemap.dc.gov, that shows where crimes have taken place.

Patrick Burke, an assistant D.C. chief for homeland security overseeing the Police Alert system, said alerts are issued after police interview victims and witnesses. The information is sent to a central command center, where alerts are tapped out using clear language and abbreviations before being distributed over the network.

One alert went out Oct. 16 after a robbery at Saxby's Coffee in the 1300 block of 19th Street NW. There were two suspects, one armed with a handgun. "Both last seen exiting the store in an unknown direction," the alert said.

Although the text messages instruct citizens not to act as vigilantes if they spot a suspect, Silicon Valley technology forecaster Paul Saffo warns of unintended consequences.

"On the positive side, it gets people involved," Saffo said. "But the downside is that you're turning everyone into an informant, and the person who still has the Hardy Boys book on their shelf at home can now act like a wannabe cop."

At Just Paper & Tea in Georgetown, owners Nick and Carolyn Wasylczuk keep a German shepherd in their store. Their store has never been robbed, but a store next door has been burglarized. They welcome the crime alerts.

"Sometimes people don't publicize things because they think it's bad for business," Nick Wasylczuk said. "If we have real-time crime information, then we can be part of solving the problem."

[Original Article]