Violence in the capital of power: crimes skyrocket in Washington DC

Jess, Lauren and Sasha are very worried. Last week they heard shots from between some trees a couple of streets from their houses. The other day, there was a carjacking just up the road. Fear has seized these neighbors who agree with the same idea: this did not happen before.

Woodridge is a residential neighborhood in the northeast of Washington DC, with tree-lined streets and family houses with small plots of grass where the tranquility has been broken in the last year, according to their residents.

random crimes

The data proves them right. Between the White House, the Capitol and international organizations hides one of the most violent cities in the US, with crime rates that do not stop increasing and that have forced the authorities to impose a night curfew to minors.

So far this year alone, violent crime in the US capital has skyrocketed 38% compared to last year, with significant increases in thefts (63%) and sexual abuse (16%).

Of particular concern are the 166 homicides that have occurred since January, an increase of 27%, since if this trend continues, the record of the last two decades will be broken.

Official statistics still do not count Kevin McDowell, the last of the victims, a 34-year-old man shot dead on Saturday night in the northeast of the capital. Last month he tapped Nasrat Ahmad Yar, a 31-year-old Afghan refugee who had worked for the US Army in Afghanistan. He was shot while he was driving.

neighborhood concern

“There has been an increase in crime in the last year and a half”tells EFE Jess, a neighbor of Woodridge worried because lately there are people shooting into the air in a park next to his house.

He is one of the forty residents who have met on a summer afternoon in a corner of the neighborhood with a councilor and two agents to talk about security.

People of all ages have come, some with their children, to denounce different concerns: “My husband’s car was stolen.” “My street is very dark at night and I am afraid.” “I did not receive the alert SMS when there was the last shooting.”..

But all their demands coincide: more police, more cameras and more lighting at night.

Lauren, one of the neighbors, reflects on the causes of the deterioration in security and various ideas occur to her, such as that mental health has worsened due to the covid-19 pandemic, weapons have proliferated or opportunities for young people are lacking.

“I don’t really know what the cause is. What I do know is that my neighbors and I used to live in a peaceful neighborhood but now we are afraid and we don’t want to be afraid.” explains to EFE.

Aware of the social unrest, the mayor of Washington DC, the Democrat Muriel Bowser, announced measures to stop the spiral of violence in a press conference last week that had to be briefly interrupted to report a shooting that finally did not escalate.

In addition to promising an increase in police presence and surveillance cameras, the local government imposed a night curfew for children under 17, since many of those arrested for violence are adolescents.

Homeless youth and many weapons

Sasha Francis, another Woodridge neighbor, was a victim of juvenile delinquency when minors broke the windows of her car to rob her. “They were children, they barely made it to the window”he explains to EFE.

After this experience, this woman is clear that the problems of young people must be addressed and she proposes expanding technical schools where they can learn trades. “If we attend to them, we will make it more difficult for them to commit crimes”claims.

There are those who go further. Some politicians and local commentators speak of “war zone” and they have even asked the mayor to request the federal government to deploy the National Guard in the city.

This is a measure that was already proposed in the early 1990s, when Washington was suffering an even worse crisis of violence, spurred on by the crack epidemic, with almost 500 homicides a year.

For former police officer Roy Taylor, the current problem stems from easy access to weapons, the drug addiction crisis that fentanyl has generated, and the insufficient number of police officers in Washington, which has 3,200 local agents.

“That people follow the Second Amendment – which shields the right to bear arms – is not a problem. The problem is that weapons are used to commit crimes. The use of weapons to shoot people should be more severely punished.” says the now expert in public safety.

In the capital of American power, where decisions that impact the rest of the world are made, almost 2,000 weapons have been seized so far this year.

Source: EFE