WASHINGTON — Washington, D.C. saw its 200th homicide of the year on Thursday, marking the first time since 2002-03 that the nation's capital experienced back-to-back years of 200-plus homicides, according to the DC Police Union.
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has reported 202 homicides in D.C. as of Dec. 30, this is around an 11% change from the previous year, 2021, which had 226. According to the police union, the data reported from the police department shows that over the past three years homicides have increased 40% over the prior three years of 2017-2019.
According to a statement released by the local police union, these are key differences that happened within those same time periods:
- Armed robberies increased by 36%
- Carjackings increased by 177%
- Also noteworthy, the annual homicide rate was less than 90 in 2012; 104 and 105 in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
"Some neighborhoods are suffering greatly from this violence," the D.C. Police Union said. "In Ward 2, for example, homicides have increased 440% when looking at the last three years against the previous three."
The police union placed blame on the increase in violence on Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen who they claim has "turned a blind eye to concerned residents and public safety experts, rather he chooses to cater to an activist crowd whose agenda is anti-police whatever the cost." They continued by saying that Allen's reform measures have resulted in a tragic loss of life and an increase in violent crime.
The Council's “emergency police reform” legislation, which was established in June of 2020, over 600 police officers have separated from MPD, the union said. The D.C. Police Union is now pleading with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to make a change.
"We urge Mayor Bowser to veto any and all legislation that is sent to her by this misguided Council," the police union said. "It is well past time for the Council to reconsider 'reform' policies that do nothing to improve public safety, as many leaders in other cities have already done. We have seen what two-plus years of these 'reform' measures have done to public safety. The experiment is a failure and people are dying as a result."
Councilmember Charles Allen released the following statement in response to the union's claims:
“The District marked a tragic milestone this week as our city has once again endured more than 200 homicides. Each horrifying incident represents a tremendous amount of pain and trauma for our residents and families who mourn lost loved ones. The District, like most of our nation, has seen an uptick since the pandemic in gun violence and homicides. District residents want to see their leaders unified in our response to gun violence.
It makes me terribly sad that the hardworking men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department have such lackluster representation. But this is the state of the FOP in major cities across America – rather than acknowledge the need for basic accountability and transparency, they use tragic milestones to lash out and divide us, when what residents want is their leaders to be united in ending gun violence and for officers to help them in their time of need. What’s really going on here is that the FOP doesn’t like legislation the Council unanimously passed almost three years ago that prohibits them from negotiating their own discipline policies during collective bargaining. That’s pure and simple about keeping bad apples on the force, not protecting and serving like our officers want to do.
The Council remains a committed partner in the work to improve public safety, recognizing MPD’s important role among the many agencies tasked with reducing gun violence. That’s why the Council also unanimously put in place a $20,000 recruitment bonus, the largest in the region, to hire new officers, has funded the Chief’s full budget request for personnel within the $526 million budget, and expanded MPD’s successful cadet program by 50% to 150 total slots. The council additionally has taken significant steps by revising and modernizing the District’s entire criminal code to make criminal laws much more clear and consistent, increasing penalties for carrying enhanced weapons meant to do harm, making it easier for MPD to intervene in cases of repeat stalking that often lead to violence, among many other actions.”