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Taking note . . .

Observations about public affairs in the nation’s capital
by the editor of The Common Denominator

SECURITY LAPSE: Four days after 17-year-old James Richardson was gunned down in a hallway at Ballou Senior High and with "tightened" school security publicly touted, yours truly expected to encounter at least the normal security upon entering H.D. Woodson Senior High at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 6, with classes in session. Much to my surprise, I walked unchallenged through an unlocked entry door and encountered no security at all – no sign-in sheet, no guard, no metal detector – at an entrance that has always presented those obstacles during previous visits to the Northeast Washington school.

That astounding observation was followed later the same day by an even more disturbing visit to Ballou. Security at the Southeast Washington school looked and felt pretty much as it has during previous visits – except that a uniformed Metropolitan Police officer was observed standing near the main entrance, in addition to a private security guard. At 2 p.m., with classes in session, yours truly and another visitor both set off the metal detector inside the front door. The visitor preceding me quickly signed in and went on her way unchallenged. The security guard got up and walked away from the sign-in table as yours truly scribbled her name. No one seemed to care why either one of us had set off the alarm.

If this is an example of "tightened" security, it’s easy to understand why Richardson might have been afraid to come to school – and even why some high school students from troubled neighborhoods may be packing heat at school to feel protected.

High school students, not only at Ballou, have complained for some time that security guards sometimes fail to investigate why students and others set off metal detectors as they pass through. That kind of lax security doesn’t seem to be tolerated at other D.C. government buildings, where citizens are even being told that they cannot enter if they cannot produce a photo ID.

At this writing, police have still not located the gun that was smuggled into Ballou to kill Richardson. Could it have been carried in through the front door?

NEW 911 CHIEF: As this issue of The Common Denominator hits the streets, Michael Latessa begins his tenure as the new director of the District’s Public Safety Communications Center. Latessa, whose 30-year career in public safety has taken him from New Hampshire to Florida to Connecticut prior to landing in D.C., has a big job ahead as he tries to improve a still-troubled emergency dispatching operation for the city’s police, fire and ambulance services. Impatient residents are hoping he can meet that challenge. Quickly.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator