Annapolis unveils police substations
Robinwood, Harbour House facilities aim to connect residents to social programs
Robinwood resident Dashi Williams was among the crowd of onlookers Friday who watched as Annapolis city officials unveiled one of two police substations in her neighborhood.
The addition of the substation, which officials are calling “community resource centers,” is a positive sign for the neighborhood, especially to help young people get connected to resources such as mentorship programs, said Williams, who has lived in Robinwood for 10 years.
“It’s a good idea,” the 25-year-old mother of three said. “I feel like it will help a lot for the kids.”
That is one of the many goals of the substations and another in the Harbor House-Eastport Terrace complex: to meet people in the community, assess their needs and promote programs they might not know about, such as the city’s harm reduction initiatives for substance users and the Annapolis Police Department reentry program, among others that will operate out of the units each week.
Melissa Maddox-Evans, executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis, said the idea for the stations was generated in part by community leaders who were concerned about safety.
Crime remains a part of the reality of both communities.
In March, police responded to a report
that 20 to 40 shots were fired outside the building next door to where the substation in Harbour House will be located. Several cars were struck by bullets and a resident living at the apartment building said a round entered through their window and struck a wall.
“We want a place that’s familiar that residents feel comfortable coming to talk about whatever problems they may have within the community and that there’s someone here for them,” Maddox-Evans said.
The substations are an incremental step in the effort to move toward a community policing model championed by Police Chief Ed Jackson.
“My philosophy to crime prevention is to take a social approach,” Jackson said. “Societal problems manifest themselves in crime, so why not be a presence here and work with the community?”
Some concerns about over-policing in neighborhoods that already see an increased police presence remain, said Alderman DaJuan Gay, D-Ward 8, who represents Robinwood as well as the Eastport public housing neighborhoods.
An approach that leans more toward social programs than police action is the key to substations’ success and increasing trust, Gay said.
The police department previously operated substations in Eastport Terrace, on West Street and in the Allen Apartments on Center Street. All are now defunct.
The new locations will be open to the public and feature meeting spaces with floor-to-ceiling murals of cartoon children, the Annapolis city seal and a “One Annapolis” slogan on the walls. Annapolis artist Comacell Brown designed the murals.
The rooms are full of empty desks and tables that will soon be filled by social workers, drug abuse outreach coordinators, Annapolis police officers and others who can offer services from the fields of medicine, mental health, workforce development, job training, domestic violence prevention and more.
Erin Lee, a city social worker hired to eventually head up the still-nascent Office of Community Services, will coordinate the programs that will operate out of the Harbour House unit.
While the schedule is still fluid, more nonprofits could join the already-broad range of programs being offered, Lee said.
Two doors down from the Robinwood substation, Jasmine Blake has lived there for about a year.
Blake said she “didn’t mind at all” when she was told a few days prior that the center would be opening.
“This is a rough part of town, so it should be good,” Blake said. “Hopefully, the crime will stop.”