Tariq Nelson

Shaw is a neighborhood in DC. (They are NOT a part of the NOI)

They are part of a Muslim neighborhood watch that lately has focused its efforts on Seventh Street NW between P and Q streets, site of the long-troubled Kelsey Gardens apartment complex. Just a few weeks ago, the location was beset by drug dealers, armed assaults and random shootings

[...]

It is a spinoff of the Citizens Organized Patrol Efforts, or COPE, a neighborhood watch established in 1988 in Shaw. Both groups dress in ample red T-shirts and red baseball hats with “COPE Patrol” written on them.

About two months ago, owners of the 35-unit Kelsey Gardens complex asked Thorpe to arrange security for the residents and crack down on drug dealers who gravitated to a parking lot in the complex, Thorpe said. The complex is slated to be razed next month and a new structure will take its place. Thorpe said that the owners want to encourage more investment in the area.

“Nobody is going to invest in a drug-infested area,” said Thorpe, a former Advisory Neighborhood Commission member who also goes by the Muslim name Mahdi.

D.C. police, who say they know of no other religion-based citizens patrol operating in the District, credit the Muslims with rousting the drug dealers and restoring a measure of public safety to the neighborhood. “There was an overwhelming difference,” said Officer Earl Brown of the 3rd Police District.

Patrol members carry no weapons, and several of the men said they had no training in self-defense. But their presence seems to be effective.

“You have eyes and ears in the neighborhood,” said Cmdr. Larry McCoy, who heads the Third Police District. “Most people don’t like to commit crimes in front of people who are going to tell the police about them.”

[...]

“They see us, they are going to flee,” said Thorpe, who carries a cellphone to call police if he needs help.

This night was uneventful. The walkie-talkies remained mute. Residents walking out of their apartment building waved to the Muslim patrol members, who waved back.

Residents seem to recognizes the Muslim patrol by now, and the Muslims have come to recognize most of the people who live on the block. “Assalamu Alaikum,” they say in greeting — Arabic for “peace be upon you. “

The Muslim patrol group is the only one of its kind in the District, according to the police department, but several patrol members said they hope to duplicate it in other neighborhoods.

[...]

“They are really helping out,” said Tony Dolford, 38, a Kelsey Gardens resident who has lived in the neighborhood since 1993.

Everett Lucas, 66, owns the Variety Market across the street from the apartment complex. The market has been open for 34 years.

“One thing you don’t see now [in the neighborhood] is drug activity,” Lucas said. [Entire Article...]

Hard to argue with good work, but how long before this effort is called “dhimmitude” or an insidious effort to implement the Khalifah?