✅ Direct Access to Leadership

No middlemen. Meet MPD leadership face-to-face.

✅ Financial Incentives

Access up to $750 in rebates for security camera systems through OVSJG partnerships.

✅ Cutting-Edge Technology

Learn about FususREGISTRY and FususCORE integration—the same technology protecting major DC properties.

✅ Expert Training

Hands-on technical assistance for CameraConnect DC enrollment from RTCC experts.

✅ PSA-Specific Support

Meet your Patrol Service Area Officials and discuss neighborhood-specific safety concerns.

✅ 45-Year Track Record

Since 1981, 3D CAC has been the trusted bridge between businesses and MPD.

BUSINESS SAFETY IS COMMUNITY SAFETY

Businesses are part of the neighborhood safety network.

They employ residents, activate commercial corridors, observe changing conditions, interact with customers and visitors, maintain properties, provide gathering spaces, preserve neighborhood identity, and often see emerging problems before government agencies do.

3D CAC works with businesses, residents, MPD, District agencies, property owners, Main Streets, community organizations, and other partners to identify conditions, connect businesses with the appropriate resources, coordinate action, and follow issues through resolution.

Our approach is simple:

See It. Know It. Act On It.

3D BUSINESS DAY

3D Business Day is an ongoing 3D CAC business-support and public-safety initiative designed to connect businesses directly with government agencies, technical experts, financial resources, community partners, and one another.

The program brings business owners, entrepreneurs, managers, commercial property stakeholders, agencies, and resource organizations together around five core areas:

Foot Traffic & Customer Attraction

Business Compliance & Technical Assistance

Public Safety & Corridor Conditions

Creative Activation & Events

Business Growth, Capital & Contracting

3D Business Day is not limited to a single annual event. It is a continuing platform for business engagement, technical assistance, public-safety education, resource connection, corridor problem-solving, and follow-up.

Through 3D Business Day, 3D CAC works to make sure businesses have opportunities to:

Bring forward real operating concerns

Speak directly with agencies and resource partners

Receive practical technical assistance

Learn about available programs and opportunities

Strengthen relationships with public-safety partners

Identify recurring corridor conditions

Connect with financing, contracting, compliance, and growth resources

Develop strategies for attracting customers and activating commercial corridors

Participate in ongoing business listening and problem-solving

Receive follow-up when an issue cannot be resolved immediately

The goal is straightforward:

Every business should leave a 3D Business Day engagement with at least one meaningful connection, one practical next step, and a clearer pathway to becoming safer, stronger, more visible, more compliant, better connected, or better positioned to grow.

BUSINESS SAFETY INITIATIVES

MPD Business Check Program Advocacy

3D CAC has consistently advocated for practical tools that strengthen routine communication between MPD officers and businesses.

On June 25th, 2024, during a CAC Chairs meeting with Chief Pamela Smith, 3D CAC Chairwoman Karen Gaal proposed the use of visible decals at participating businesses so officers could readily identify establishments enrolled in a business-check program. The concept was intended to support routine officer-business check-ins, create a visible public-safety presence, and strengthen the partnership between MPD and the business community.

3D CAC continued to advocate for the broader Business Check initiative through subsequent program development, implementation delays, leadership transitions, demonstrations, and renewed deployment.

The MPD Business Check Program now uses visible business decals and QR-code-based documentation to support routine interaction between officers and participating businesses.

MPD owns and operates the Business Check Program. 3D CAC’s role has been to advocate for its practical implementation, elevate business participation and visibility as priorities, and help connect Third District businesses with the program.

3D CAC has consistently advocated for practical tools that strengthen routine communication between MPD officers and businesses.

Our work has included sustained follow-up on MPD’s Business Check initiative through program development, implementation delays, leadership transitions, demonstrations, and renewed deployment.

3D CAC also advocated for visible decals at participating businesses so officers could readily identify establishments enrolled in the program.

The MPD Business Check Program is designed to support routine interaction between officers and participating businesses through visible business decals, officer check-ins, and QR-code-based documentation.

Business Beat & Officer-to-Business Relationships

3D CAC encourages direct relationships between businesses and the MPD officers, supervisors, and Police Service Areas serving their blocks.

Our business-safety work promotes:

Routine officer-business engagement

Understanding the appropriate PSA

Knowing how and when to report incidents

Sharing recurring safety conditions

Opening and closing safety practices

Robbery, burglary, theft, and shoplifting prevention

Timely preservation of video evidence

Follow-up after significant incidents

Better communication between businesses and MPD

The goal is stronger day-to-day relationships between businesses and the public-safety personnel serving their corridors.

Business Safety Assessments & Crime Prevention

3D CAC helps businesses look beyond individual incidents and examine the physical and operational conditions surrounding a property or corridor.

Safety conversations may address:

Lighting

Visibility

Entrances and exits

Camera placement

Exterior gathering areas

Alleys and rear-property access

Obstructed sightlines

Vacant or poorly maintained properties

Trash and environmental conditions

Opening and closing procedures

Employee situational awareness

Patterns of recurring activity

Our public-safety training also incorporates Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles, including visibility, maintenance, access control, activity, and natural surveillance.

Security Cameras, Video Evidence & Incident Documentation

3D CAC encourages businesses to use cameras and incident documentation as part of a broader safety strategy.

Businesses may receive guidance on:

Camera placement and coverage

Exterior and interior visibility

Retention of video

Accurate date and time settings

Prompt preservation after an incident

Sharing relevant footage with investigators

Available District camera-support resources

Documenting recurring incidents and patterns

Multi-Agency Corridor Walks

Some business-safety problems cannot be solved by police alone.

3D CAC conducts and participates in multi-agency corridor walks that bring the appropriate agencies directly to affected blocks and businesses.

Conditions may involve:

Public safety

Trash and illegal dumping

Rodent activity

Alleys

Sidewalks

Lighting

Public space

Vacant properties

Property maintenance

Food and grease waste

Transportation conditions

Recurring disorder

Business compliance

These walks allow agencies to see conditions together, clarify responsibility, assign next steps, and reduce the problem of businesses being sent from agency to agency.

Public Safety Task Forces & Corridor Problem-Solving

3D CAC uses geographically focused task forces when conditions require sustained attention rather than a single meeting or service request.

Task-force work can involve businesses, residents, MPD, MOCRS, DPW, DC Health, DDOT, DOB, ABCA, OAG, and other District and community partners.

The model is:

Identify the condition

Document it

Determine responsibility

Bring the responsible partners together

Assign action

Track commitments

Return to verify whether conditions changed

Rat Abatement Neighbor2Neighbor – Business Edition

Rodent activity is not simply a sanitation issue. It affects customer experience, employee safety, neighborhood confidence, property conditions, and the viability of entire commercial corridors.

3D CAC’s Rat Abatement Neighbor2Neighbor approach helps businesses understand:

What attracts rodents

Food and grease waste

Commercial trash storage

Dumpster and container conditions

Alleys and rear-property areas

Burrows and signs of infestation

Property-owner responsibilities

Business responsibilities

DC Health’s role

DPW’s role

Reporting and inspection processes

Treatment and prevention

Why neighboring businesses must work together

The central principle is simple:

Rodents do not recognize property lines.

Effective prevention requires coordinated action across the block.

“Who Does What?” Business Education

One of the most common barriers businesses face is not knowing which agency owns a particular problem.

3D CAC works to make government easier to navigate by helping businesses understand where different responsibilities belong.

Examples include:

MPD — crime, incidents, policing, and business safety

DC Health — health, food safety, and rodent-control functions

DPW — sanitation, solid waste, and related enforcement

DDOT — sidewalks, curbside, transportation, and public-space conditions

DOB — building, occupancy, permitting, and property matters

DLCP — business licensing and regulatory navigation

OTR — taxes, Clean Hands, and taxpayer assistance

ABCA — alcohol licensing and related regulatory matters

FEMS — fire and life-safety matters

When an issue crosses agency boundaries, 3D CAC works to bring the relevant partners into the same conversation.

De-Escalation & Conflict Prevention

3D CAC provides and develops training designed to help residents, volunteers, businesses, and community partners recognize escalating situations and respond safely.

Business-relevant areas include:

Recognizing escalating behavior

Maintaining safe physical positioning

Verbal de-escalation

Situational awareness

Knowing when not to intervene

Protecting employees and customers

Calling for appropriate assistance

Reducing unnecessary confrontation

Community Mediation & Early Conflict Resolution

Some neighborhood and business conflicts become public-safety problems because they remain unresolved for too long.

3D CAC supports confidential mediation and early problem-solving for appropriate community, neighbor, property, and quality-of-life conflicts before they escalate.

This can include recurring tensions involving neighboring properties, businesses, residents, shared spaces, noise, sanitation, or other ongoing community conditions.

Nighttime Economy & Business Corridor Safety

Many Third District businesses operate beyond traditional business hours.

3D CAC recognizes that nighttime business safety requires more than traditional daytime service delivery.

Our work considers:

Nighttime business conditions

Employee arrival and departure

Customer safety

Late-night trash and waste activity

Alleys and rear-property conditions

Transit and transportation

Recurring disorder

Closing procedures

Business-to-business communication

MPD coordination

Positive activation of underused spaces

A safe nighttime economy should also be an active, welcoming, and economically viable nighttime economy.

Vacant Properties & Problem Locations

Vacant, poorly maintained, or chronically problematic properties can affect neighboring businesses far beyond the property line.

3D CAC works with agencies and community partners to document and escalate conditions involving:

Vacant storefronts

Unsecured properties

Rear alleys

Accumulated trash

Rodent-contributing conditions

Lighting deficiencies

Physical deterioration

Recurring unlawful activity

Properties generating repeated community complaints

The objective is to address the underlying location and conditions rather than repeatedly responding only to individual incidents.

Safe, Clean & Welcoming Commercial Corridors

Public safety and economic vitality are connected.

Customers are more likely to visit, remain, return, and recommend a commercial corridor when the environment feels:

Safe

Clean

Active

Accessible

Well maintained

Welcoming

Visible

Connected

For that reason, 3D CAC’s business-safety work also intersects with sanitation, infrastructure, transportation, creative placemaking, public art, corridor activation, customer attraction, and business growth.

Positive activity is itself part of creating safer commercial spaces.

HOW 3D BUSINESS DAY SUPPORTS THIS WORK

3D Business Day gives businesses a recurring place to connect the five pillars:

Foot Traffic & Customer Attraction

Business Compliance & Technical Assistance

Public Safety & Corridor Conditions

Creative Activation & Events

Business Growth, Capital & Contracting

Businesses can bring real questions, identify the appropriate agency or resource, receive technical guidance, establish next steps, and continue follow-up beyond the event itself.

The program is designed to move businesses through a simple process:

Business identifies the need

→ 3D CAC documents and routes it

→ Appropriate agency or resource partner is connected

→ Multi-agency coordination occurs when necessary

→ A next action and responsible party are identified

→ Follow-up is tracked

→ Progress is reviewed

The objective is not simply to make referrals.

It is to help move business issues toward resolution and strengthen the conditions that allow businesses and commercial corridors to thrive.

BUSINESS SAFETY IS COMMUNITY SAFETY

Strong businesses create active blocks.

Active blocks strengthen neighborhood relationships.

Better conditions improve customer confidence.

Stronger communication improves prevention and response.

And businesses that are Safe. Strong. Connected. help build safer neighborhoods throughout the Third District.