safety in numbers?

as i hustled from s & n's apartment this p.m. to enjoy candlelit yoga with kyra at inspired on the corner of 12th & u nw, i came upon something like five police cruisers on v. two had their red and blue lights spinning; a bunch of others were parked. (at the corner, the ubi-parking enforcement team was issuing a pink slip). the police officers were mostly milling about asking each other questions in some kind of police code that i no longer understand since i haven't seen "homicide" in years. anyway, i asked a multi-culti knot of male officers what was going on. they explained that they were conducting "safety checks." they had pulled over three cars. i watched enough dick c. wolf productions with miss bird to realize that they were running titles, tags, and plates. the drivers appeared to be mostly mothers in their evening commutes picking up children from day care and school.

this was one block from where a man was shot the other night over a parking spot. in front of duke's jazz club.

i guess this is what happens when there's a shooting in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.