WASHINGTON- Citizens and visitors in Tenleytown expressed mixed views on crime as theft increased by a small amount in the past year, according to interviews and Metropolitan Police figures.
Theft crimes from July 2013 to July 2014 increased to 119 from 107 during the previous year in an area 1500 feet from Tenleytown’s center, according to Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department figures.
On Monday, people stepped around shattered glass outside the Best Buy store on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue. Police line tape was put up on the sidewalk outside the store. A police officer near the scene would not comment on the incident.
Trey Polston, a 25-year-old baseball coach at Woodrow Wilson High School, hasn’t experienced crime since he moved to the area in August 2013 and said he doesn’t know any one who has. But, Polston did say he feels slightly uneasy when encountering a homeless person.
“Usually on the bench, there’s usually a guy, or two, but they don’t really mess with us too much or anything, you know? They’re just trying to live themselves,” Polston said.
In contrast, a Tenleytown native sees another group as a threat to safety: high school students. Although police statistics didn’t reveal the specific ages of crime perpetrators Carlyn Hackney said teenagers in the area can be a “potential threat.”
“Just ’cause they’re rowdy, you know, and they’re always up here in the masses,” said Hackney, a 24-year-old nanny who grew up in the area.
Amanda Corvelli, a long-time employee at American Valet, had a similar perspective to Hackney.
Corvelli has witnessed Woodrow Wilson students fighting after school and seen people stealing from the Wisconsin Avenue CVS store.
Despite those incidents, she said Tenleytown is still a safe area, especially compared to other metropolitan neighborhoods.
“I mean there’s crime, but there’s crime everywhere,” Corvelli said.