Nation's capital grapples with violence, juvenile crime as DC leaders look for answers

[buh buh biden]

Crime has been rising in Washington, D.C., since the spring of 2020, as
local officials continue to disagree over the root causes of the violence.

"You'll get a group of kids that steals a car at gunpoint. And there could
be violence there, where they assault somebody or pistol-whip somebody,"
Gregg Pemberton, chair of the D.C. Police Union, told Fox News Digital.
"We see people shot during armed carjackings. Then, they'll take the car
and use the stolen car to commit other crimes. They'll drive to other
neighborhoods, rival neighborhoods, and they'll shoot people. Then they'll
leave. They'll commit robberies of gas stations or convenience stores."

Pemberton says politics has gotten in the way of public safety. Other
local officials, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, have blamed the rising
crime trend on "the easy access of weapons." Officials have also pointed
to the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Statistics
In 2021, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) reported 226
homicides — the highest annual murder count seen in the nation’s capital
in nearly 20 years. Only 42% of those homicide investigations were closed.

In 2022, homicides are down 6% year-to-date, with 59 reported so far this
year compared to 63 at this time last year. The number of assault
incidents with deadly weapons remains unchanged, with 457 reported this
year compared to 455 reported last year, and robberies are up 54%, with
803 incidents reported this year compared to 521 at the same time last
year.

DC HOMICIDES COST TAXPAYERS $1.53M PER MURDER, NEARLY $1B PRICE TAG FOR
ALL SHOOTINGS LAST YEAR: STUDY

Total violent crime is up 25%, and property crime is up 7%.

Examples
On April 22, four people were injured in a shooting in D.C.'s Van Ness
neighborhood after suspect Raymond Spencer fired an estimated 200 rounds
from an apartment window before killing himself, according to authorities.
The shooting occurred less than two weeks after four people were injured
in a shooting near Nationals Park.

"Unfortunately, I had to look in parents' eyes tonight who are terrified,
and they were terrified thinking of what might happen to their children,"
Bowser said during an April 22 press conference after the shooting. "And
we have experienced this too much in our country — the epidemic of gun
violence. The easy access of weapons has got to stop. People should not be
scared taking their children to school."


Motor vehicle theft, theft from auto and "other" auto incidents are also
up compared to last year, and experts say auto-related incidents often
lead to violence. Juveniles have made up the majority of carjacking
suspects over the last two years.

MPD has arrested multiple juveniles between the ages of 13 and 15 in
recent weeks ranging from unarmed and armed carjackings to armed
robberies. On April 21, authorities announced the arrest of a 13-year-old
boy charged in connection to two stolen auto incidents, two assaults, two
unarmed carjackings and three armed carjackings, one of which included an
assault with a hammer.

D.C. City Council candidate Nate Fleming became the victim of an armed
carjacking that occurred in broad daylight at a gas station in January.

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"I’m shocked, angry and a bit embarrassed," Fleming said in a statement
posted to Twitter. "To be threatened at gunpoint is shocking, but I am not
surprised to have been attacked given the crisis we are facing with
carjackings and violence in general in our city. Increasing public safety
is at the heart of why I’m running for a citywide Council seat."

In February, an armed suspect carjacked a vehicle near Capitol Hill with
the victim and her 11-month-old child still inside. The victim told police
the suspect said, "Keep screaming and I'm gonna stab you," according to a
police report.

Armed carjacking in D.C. caught on Ring doorbell cameraVideo
Guns
Mayor Bowser and President Biden have blamed gun violence and ghost guns
for rising crime in not only the nation's capital but in other major U.S.
cities, as well.

Last year alone, there were approximately 20,000 suspected ghost guns
reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) after being
recovered by law enforcement in criminal investigations— which the White
House said is a "ten-fold increase" from 2016. In D.C., specifically, the
number of ghost guns recovered from the streets jumped to a record high in
2021. District authorities recovered 25 ghost guns in 2018, 116 in 2019,
282 in 2020 and 313 in 2021, according to NBC 4 Washington.

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Biden on April 11 announced that the Justice Department had issued its
long-awaited final rule to rein in the proliferation of "ghost guns,"
making it illegal for a business to manufacture firearms without serial
numbers. The president has also recently called for "universal background
checks," an "assault weapons" ban and a ban on "high-capacity magazines."

Bowser on April 25 announced a new Violent Crime Impact Team comprised of
local and federal partners to help recover illegal firearms and apprehend
criminals.

"We cannot allow people to terrorize our communities with guns," Bowser
said in a statement at the time. "This is about using a whole-of-
government approach, but it’s also about focusing our attention and
resources on exactly where we know the problem is. Our message is clear –
we will continue to offer people in our city a better path forward, but if
people choose to engage in violence, then they will be held accountable."

Bowser had also introduced a plan for the MPD to reach 4,000 sworn-in MPD
officers through her 2023 Fair Shot Budget, which invests $30 million for
hiring, recruitment, and retention incentives for the department.

Politics
While Pemberton, chair of the D.C. Police Union, agrees that part of the
issue of rising crime in D.C. is the lingering impact of the pandemic, he
also blames the trend on politics.

When police question juveniles "about their involvement" in a crime, the
juveniles "are telling the detectives that they know there's no penalty,
so they don't care," Pemberton explained, naming D.C. District Attorney
Karl Racine's Restorative Justice Model as a reason why.

The model allows juveniles charged with violent crimes to take part in a
restorative program that includes connecting with victims and therapy
instead of being prosecuted with the goal of decreasing the likelihood
that the same juvenile offender will commit future crimes. The office of
the attorney general is the sole prosecutor for juvenile offenses.

"There's just this lackadaisical sort of laissez-faire attitude about
committing these crimes because they know that even when they go in front
of a judge in D.C. Superior Court, and even if they're convicted, it's
likely not going to be any significant penalty," Pemberton said.

Pemberton also blames D.C. City Council policies introduced since the May
2020 killing of George Floyd — a tragedy that occurred shortly after
COVID-19 swept across the U.S. and led local and national lawmakers to
hastily introduce police-reform bills.

2 VICTIMS ROBBED AT GUNPOINT AFTER ENTERING CAR THEY THOUGHT WAS THEIR
RIDESHARE IN DC

Such policies "have multiple consequences," one of which includes officer
retention rates, Pemberton said.

"We've seen almost 700 officers leave over the past two years, and that's
a significant number of them," the union chair said. "… Right now, it's
our total strength in sworn-in police officers is right around 3,500. The
mayor is saying that we need 4,000. The chief agrees with that. The union
agrees with that. I think … the minimum that we should have is 4,000."

The D.C. Police Union directly blames increasing D.C. crime on City
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, as well as Judiciary and Public Safety
Committee Chairman Charles Allen, in a new advertisement campaign. Allen
introduced the" Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Emergency Act"
in 2020, and Mendelson introduced the "Strengthening Oversight and
Accountability of Police Amendment Act" in 2021.


Pemberton specifically took issue with Mendelson's bill, introduced in
July of last year, which publicizes an officer's entire personnel record
for the entirety of that officer's career. It also makes public certain
victim and witness information.

"Wat it does is it takes the Office of Police Complaints [OPC], which is a
civilian agency outside of the MPD … that handles complaints, and just
completely gives them carte blanche to investigate any police officer
about any issue," Pemberton said. "This is [a] very biased agency that
comes up with some pretty ridiculous allegations against our officers. And
of the allegations they make against our officers … only 8% of the
complaints that come in are sustained against our members."

Pemberton added that the council is "not willing to listen" to police, who
want accountability within the MPD but do not want policies that will make
police recruitment and retention more difficult.

D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee said during an October 2021 hearing
that Mendelson's bill "goes too far," not because he does not want "police
accountability" but because it treats MPD officers, "the overwhelming
majority of whom serve our community faithfully, unfairly."

From left, Chief Robert Contee III and Mayor Muriel Bowser speak to the
media at the scene of an active shooting in Washington, D.C. on Friday,
April 22, 2022.
From left, Chief Robert Contee III and Mayor Muriel Bowser speak to the
media at the scene of an active shooting in Washington, D.C. on Friday,
April 22, 2022. ((Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post via
Getty Images))

"It is because it will bog the Department down in endless bureaucracy that
will prevent the agency from effectively and efficiently serving the city.
And it is because it does not protect the privacy interests of everyone
who is victimized by crime or chooses to work with the Department," Contee
said at the time.

Mendelson's office shared a statement from the chairman last month saying
the legislation "would strengthen police accountability."

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"This has nothing to do with public safety, as they’ve alleged. Creating a
Deputy Auditor of Public Safety, and making it harder for the [fraternal
order of police] to defend one of their own for excessive use of force
does not increase carjackings or homicides," the council chairman said.
"Moreover, the legislation says nothing about the number of officers, nor
the police budget. What it does is makes sure DC Police are held
accountable. I am not against an increase in Police officers, I want more
police. But I want the kind of police who can be held responsible for
wrongdoing."

The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Fox News
Digital. Allen and several other councilmembers also did not respond or
declined comment.

Impact
D.C.'s population fell by about 3%, representing a loss of more than
20,000 residents, in 2021, the D.C. Policy Center reported on March 25,
citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The percentage represents a record-high exodus from the District over the
last two decades, the Policy Center reported.

Additionally, D.C.'s population growth rate is -2.9% compared to the
national rate of 0.12% and the Washington metropolitan area rate of 0.46%.

"The District had the lowest rates of domestic and net migration among all
states, and though its birth, international migration, and natural growth
rates ranked second, third, and fourth respectively, those gains were not
at all enough to compensate the losses," the Policy Center said in its
report.

Pemberton said victims of crime are being left out of the conversation.

"People who have been raped or robbed or shot or burglarized or whose
families have been murdered — those are the voices that get silenced in
this debate," he said. "It's really just an issue between activists on one
side that say policing is aggressive and all of the other rhetoric that
gets spewed out. And police officers who are saying, ‘Hey, we need to be
able to do our job to protect these communities.’ That's the debate. But
what you're not hearing is all of the individuals who've been victimized
by crime is traumatized."


https://www.foxnews.com/us/continued-rise-dc-crime-leaders-answers