Shen Yang / SOS Rental at Hollywood commercial district

A commercial armed robbery occurred on January 26th, 2012, at approximately 1707 hours, at SOS Towing, Transport and Rental Car located at 9903 Rhode Island Ave, College Park, MD.

SOS Rental is located on top of Shen Yang Restaurant at the Hollywood shopping complex.

CID-Robbery is investigating the robbery.

The suspects are believed to have fled the scene in an older model black Chevy Malibu with unknown Maryland “1812” style tags.

The Police has the following descriptions of the Suspects:
SUSPECT#1: H/M/20-24yoa/5’4”/160 lbs/green military style jacket/blue pants / black baseball cap/ tan mask (NFD)
SUSPECT#2: B/M/20-24/6’0”/160 lbs/black Northface jacket/black pants/black baseball cap/black mask (NFD)

If contact is made with this vehicle or people matching this description please notify the Robbery Division (301-772-4905) or the on-duty investigator through PSC.

Greenbelt Metro Station

18-year-old Sheldon Snead and 18-year-old K’Vaughn Brandon Hines, of Washington D.C., face several charges that include rape, sexual offense and assault of the College Park’s 24-year-old student.

The victim was attacked by numerous suspects while walking down Cherrywood Lane after exiting the Greenbelt Metro station in the early hours of Dec. 17. She was dragged into nearby woods and repeatedly raped for at least an hour.

The woman was able to make her way back onto Cherrywood Lane where she was helped by joggers.

Police officer Kelly Lawson says two other suspects have been identified, but are not in custody while police investigate their involvement.

Greenbelt Metro north entrance

Greenbelt Crime Report
Recently WMATA found College Park Metro having the highest number of crime incidents (Greenbelt Metro came 5th). This crime report includes incidents from April last year to last Friday.

City Holiday Schedule
City offices will be closed tomorrow, December 26 and January 2. Refuse and recycling will be collected one day later than normal on both weeks: Monday collections will occur Tuesday, Tuesday collections will occur Wednesday and Wednesday collections will occur on Thursday. Appointments for special trash and brush will only be scheduled for Friday on these holiday weeks. Please call or email Public Works in advance to schedule an appointment (phone 240-487-3590; publicworks@collegeparkmd.gov)

Found Dog
A female black lab mix was found near the intersection of Hollywood Rd and 51st Ave on Sat 12/17 and turned over to College Park Animal Control on 12/20. She is microchipped to an owner in Illinois, but the contact information is no longer valid. The dogs was wearing a silver choker with a pink nylon line through it. Please call Animal Control with any additional information on this dogs home. Please call City’s Animal Control’s Vivian Cooper at 240-375-3165

A College Park student was gang raped near the Greenbelt Metro Station early Saturday morning. Police are looking for at least four teens and young men in connection with the attack.

This reminds us another rape that happened last year, when a 15 years old girl was raped near the Metro entrance at the north College Park entrance. Metro later installed 6 cameras there after a successful camera petition drive.

The center was opened very recently and is considered one of the best call processing center among the entire country.  The center currently processes 3500 police and 500 fire  related calls daily. During the past hurricane season, the center processed around 1100 additional calls daily

During our two hour tour, we learned quite a bit..

• How a 911 call is received. We got chances to listen to actual 911 calls from residents and how they were logged and dispatched to police and fire dispatchers.
• How a police officer or a fire crew is dispatched to handle the call
• How calls are received and dispatched in areas of concurrent jurisdictions, such as in College Park where we have at least three entities dealing with public safety
• How the calls made in other languages are processed

Thanks to Zari Malswama of City’s Neighborhood Watch group for organizing the tour.

Metro Crime Highest at College Park Station

Recently, the Washington Post reported that the College Park Metro had the highest crime incidents in the third quarter of the entire Metro system.

The article says “The rail stations that had the highest number of major crimes for the quarter were College Park, with 26; Southern Avenue, with 21; Deanwood, with 20; Suitland, with 18; and Greenbelt, with 16.” (please click the graphics at the left).

You can view the entire WMATA crime report here.

In explaining the high crime figure at the Metro, a Metro spokesperson said: “I can report to you that for the 3rd Quarter 96 percent of all crime at the College Park Station was property related (auto/bike). There was only one crime against a person reported.”

He also said Metro has provided the Prince Georges County PD as well as other jurisdictional partners in the area Smart Trip Cards so they can patrol at the Metro.

New stop signs at Rhode Island and Niagara Road

Since we talked aboutthe stop signs at the new intersection of the Rhode Island Ave, and the Niagara Road, the City and the county staff worked together to improve the traffic safety at the intersection.

One concern we still had was about vehicles going into Niagara Road from Rhode Island Avenue. These vehicles often come to the intersection too fast, so much so that other vehicles on the service road and Niagara Road may face the danger of accidents.

To address this concern, the staff  observed / recommended the following issues at the intersections:  

1.       The vegetation on the northwest corner should be cut backed and thinned. 
2.       The tree on the northwest corner should be removed.
3.       The existing signs along the southbound lane of Rhode Island Avenue should be checked and adjusted so that they do not block the sight distance.
4.       An advanced intersection sign (indicating Niagara Road) along southbound Rhode Island Avenue may be necessary. DPW&T’s Traffic Safety Division will look into this request. If warranted, the advance warning sign will be installed.
5.       A “Niagara Rd” street name sign will be required along Rhode Island Avenue at Niagara Road.
6.       The “stop” sign along the service road should be moved further northward.
7.       Traffic operations at the intersection of Niagara Road and Service Road should be observed during peak hours. If operational problems were observed (specifically for left turning vehicles on Niagra Road), then a “Do Not Block the Intersection” sign should be installed on the eastbound Niagra Road approach to the service road. The temporary stop sign installed on the same approach will be removed unless it is otherwise directed by the City of College Park. The City will provide the request in writing.
 
The county’s satff will review the temporary measures initiated by the construction project manager and City’s observations to determine what is necessary to make this intersection comply with common County traffic safety standards and practices.
 
In addition, the City staff will recommend to the City Mayor and Council that the temporary “stop” sign on Niagara Road become a permanent installation so that the sign will not be removed at the completion of the construction project. 

Please let me know if you have any question or further suggestions.

P.G. Public Safety Communications Center

This is the center where all 9-1-1 & Non-Emergency calls are received and processed.

The tour will take place from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday evening, December 16th, 2011.

The group will be going as a group of up to 10 people, and they have 6 slots left for those who’d like to join. So, please let me know ASAP if you’d like to join the tour.

Prince George's Police

Following two back-to-back commercial robberies, the Prince George’s Police department has increased their presence in the Hollywood commercial district, according to the PGPD’s community liaison officer Ofc. Errol Lobin.

Last week the 7 / 11 store was hit by an armed robbery, the 5th in recent months. A few days earlier, another store in the district, Bamboo Eater was hit by another armed robbery. Both robberies occurred during night time.

Following the armed robberies, we went to the store and met store’s owner Mr. Yadata, who showed us the captured video of the entire crime incident. We also discussed a few options to improve store’s safety. The safety measures include increased lighting at the store front, better video surveillance with larger in-store TV monitors, and more visible warning signs on store’s glass doors.

Oficer Lobin also spoke with manager of 7/11 yesterday again about the safety issues. He said the manager said he was going to look into purchasing electromagnetic lock doors. Let’s hope the security situation will improve in future.

A fire which resulted in three fatalities in the Lewisdale neighborhood may have been prevented , or the residents may have self evacuated safely had there been a working smoke alarm in the house. A survey by PGFD/EMS indicates that as many as 25% of the homes in the County may not have a working smoke alarm.

Winter and the holidays often present additional fire risks such as space heaters, candles, unattended cooking.

Please make sure to check there are working smoke alarms in every area of the home used for sleeping and on every level of the home.

If a resident needs fire prevention information, or cannot afford a smoke alarm, or needs assistance in properly placing smoke alarms, please call PGFD/EMS at 301.864.7233, the local fire station, or the City Code Enforcement office for assistance.

The most fire safe homes are those equipped with both working smoke alarms and automatic fire sprinklers. Even then, proactive fire safe behavior is necessary to prevent injuries.

7/11 reward poster November 29

On this Monday, at approximately 3:30 am, suspects committed a robbery at the 7-Eleven located at 4921 Edgewood Road College Park MD.

This is 5th time the north College Park store was hit by robbery in recent months. The fourth arnmed robbery occured in last September

The Prince George’s County Police Department is working to identify the suspects shown in the surveillance photographs.

Anyone with information that may assist in this investigation is asked to call CRIME SOLVERS at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or CID-Robbery Unit at 301-772-4905 as soon as possible. Please refer to case number 11-332-0263. Whenever information is given to the Prince George’s County Crime Solvers Line, you do not have to leave your name.

A REWARD of up to $1000.00 is being offered for the tip that leads to the arrest and indictment of the suspects responsible for this robbery.

New stop signs at Rhode Island and Niagara Road

Since we first reported the safety situation at the new Rhode Island / Niagara intersection, our City and County officials have been working hard to address that. We would like to thank them for their excellent coordinated work, as they actually brought two stop signs at the intersection sooner than we expected (they said the sign would be installed by next Wednesday). A job well done!

One of the two signs is located at the service road ending at the Niagara Road and the other one is installed at the east end of Niagara Road ending at Rhode Island Avenue. These two signs will definitely improve traffic safety situation, but we still have concerns about vehicles going into Niagara Road from Rhode Island Avenue. These vehicles often come to the intersection too fast, so much so that other vehicles on the service road and Niagara Road may face the danger of accidents.

We hope to discuss the safety situation in a meeting with the City engineer and the officials from County’s Public Works sometime next week. Hopefully we can find a solution to this remaining safety problem in that meeting. If you have any other concern or idea about the safety at that intersection, please let me know.

Design showing stop signs at Niagara Road

A number of residents in the area have expressed concerns about safety at the new entrance on the Niagara Rd (West), as part of the Rhode Island / Edgewood intersection improvement project.

As one resident emailed me: “There are now four exits and entrances for automobiles at Niagara. In other words you have to look out for cars in four different directions, whereas before you just looked left and right. the other day I tried to cross Rhode Island as usual, and was startled by a car exiting from the opposite side of Rhode Island and trying to enter on my side. The driver managed to stop, even though he threw his hands up in the air like he was startled by me being on the way over in front of him. I quickly retreated.”

The County and the City have been contacted on this and thankfully the County’s contractors have agreed to install two stop signs there to address the issue. They said that two stop signs will be installed by this coming Wednesday if not sooner.

Please see the attached map for more details on the proposed stop signs. Here is a Google map, in case you want to know the location of the intersection.

Neighborhood Watch

With the holiday season in full swing, City’s public safety department has issued some general crime prevention tips to help remind of things we can do to reduce our chance of being a crime victim during this time of the year and to help us remain safe during the holiday shopping season:

When Shopping:

At Home: