Police OT Credited in Crime Dip

The cadets asked her how police could do better in Congress Heights, and she said she told them, among other things, that her neighborhood needs more of them.

"They need to slow down when they drive through so they can see things and we can see them," Seegars said. "They also need to drive through the alleys more and shine their lights back there."

At Superior Court on Saturday, nearly 200 cases were called until well into the night. That process was repeated yesterday in the room known as C-10 -- the nerve center of the courthouse, where most of those arrested made their first appearances before a judge.

Each of the dozen wooden benches in the courtroom was filled, something courthouse employees say they never see, even on busy Mondays or after long holiday weekends.

Magistrate Judge Michael J. McCarthy said he knew it would be a long day, so he began hearing cases an hour early and warned the crowd at 2:30 p.m. that they might miss the 10 o'clock news.

"I apologize," he said. "We have twice the number we normally do. We're doing the best we can."

A large bulletin board hanging in the hall listed scores of names and charges McCarthy would hear: mostly people locked up for drug possession, prostitution, violating protection orders, having unregistered firearms and simple assault.

The process sped up only as the court dismissed a fraction of cases because prosecutors did not want to move ahead with them. On Saturday, for example, 33 of the 181 cases called were "no-papered," meaning the charges didn't stick.

Some in the hallway crowd complained that the weekend arrests were excessive, but Mike Jones, a quiet 19-year-old, didn't express an opinion. Jones was still upset that on Saturday night he saw "a bunch of cops just showing up and pushing everybody up for no reason."

Instead of venting, Jones rubbed the back of the baby asleep on his shoulder and kept a protective eye on Deshawn Buchanan's other two children. Buchanan, who is Jones's girlfriend's sister, was arrested Sunday morning on a charge of simple assault and assigned Lockup Number 167.

Jones had sat in that hallway before, he said, but he had never seen so many people.

"They pushed everyone out of the courtroom because there are no seats," he said.

Staff writer Henri E. Cauvin contributed to this report.