Francesca Seta/The Hoya Police and local residents met at a monthly Partnerships in Problem Solving meeting on Wednesday at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

In a meeting between the Metropolitan Police Department and the Citizens Association of Georgetown Wednesday night, police officers and Georgetown residents discussed concerns relating to noisy neighborhood conditions and started a task force targeting certain “problem houses” in close proximity to Georgetown University.

The Partnerships in Problem Solving meeting, held at St. John’s Episcopal Church, is a monthly meeting held to help police, community members and various agency representatives solve problems in the Georgetown community, namely noise and trash.

Residents expressed concerns that the quality of life decreases as a result of excessive noise and littering problems in the neighborhood – a common, recurring complaint from the university’s neighbors. “There is a general disregard for neighbors and the neighborhood,” a concerned resident said.

As the primary order of business in response to resident concerns, MPD Lt. Mark Carter from Police Service Area 206 and Sgt. Samuel Delisi from the Focused Mission Team Operations began drawing up plans with the help of neighborhood residents to develop a task force to more closely watch certain houses with recurring noise problems.

“We are picking about six houses to work on, houses that constantly appear on the repeat call sheet,” Delisi said. “This adheres to Chief [of Police] Ramsey’s philosophy of cracking down on these problem houses. We want to be fair in working together with residents, administration and students to create a better regard for the neighborhood.”

In addition to the planning of the task force, MPD stressed that it is important to educate university students on the important issue of respect for neighboring residents.

Georgetown residents also showed a concern for the growing problem of underage drinking in the Georgetown community. In response, Lt. Pat Burke of the Office of Executive Commands responded that MPD is making great progress in preventing instances of underage drinking.

“With our Stopping Underage Drinking program, we are taking great measures to `pull the weeds’ before they become a problem,” Burke said. “We are cracking down on certain establishments, including bars and nightclubs, and making sure that bartenders do not sell to those under 21 years of age by threat of criminal citations.”

Burke stated that increased attention on bars and other alcohol-serving establishments has caused students to move back into the neighborhoods for house parties, but maintained that MPD would continue to do the best it can to enforce the law and keep a close eye on private residences.

“We are fair in what we do, telling everyone what we are all about,” Burke said, “and we want to let everyone know what the law is, and enforce that law to the best of our ability.” Burke noted that those found who were drinking underage would face up to a $50 fine, possible jail time and a community service sentence.

When asked what action concerned residents could take in suppressing noise problems, community member Ed Solomon spoke about the progress of an 800-number that would alert officers by pager of an immediate problem.

“Right now we need something that can address something that’s not as important as a 911 emergency, but something that doesn’t have as low priority as a 311 call. We would give this 800-number out to all residents and resident students, and response by officers would be a very high priority,” Solomon said.

Solomon stated that this service would be up and running by the beginning of March, and that the number would be distributed to all surrounding residents by approximately March 10.

MPD representatives including Capt. Michael Jacobs summed up that increased action and involvement from the community would constantly solve problems quickly and make for more peaceful living conditions and quality of life in the Georgetown community.

“We have seen drastic decreases in burglaries and robberies over the past couple of months, thanks to increased resident involvement,” Jacobs said. “It is important that people constantly use the university hotline to report any information that they know.”

Carter reminded all concerned residents that everyone’s involvement is crucial in reducing future neighborhood problems.

“It doesn’t make a difference if it’s students or adults; we just want to get this cleared up as soon as possible,” Carter said. “But I need everyone to understand that once we start this [task force] process, we’re going to start cracking down and taking action.”