The Disaster of DC Governance
The unwillingness of the district’s leadership to prosecute crime has produced some stunning statistics.
“An amazing statistic,” wrote columnist Byron York recently, “has been circulating among people who follow crime in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the U.S. attorney in Washington, appointed by President Joe Biden, declined to prosecute 67% of all arrests in the city. That’s not 67% of all crimes committed. It’s 67% of instances in which police have identified, captured, and charged a suspect. Prosecutors just let them go.”
Sixty-seven percent. That is an amazing statistic, even for a soft-on-crime Democrat stronghold. And it’s a scary statistic, too, especially for those who live or work in the DC area. What, after all, is the purpose of government if not to enforce the laws and protect the citizenry?
York continued: “The number, 67%, is off the charts, especially when compared with other cities with significant crime problems. In Detroit, prosecutors declined 33% of cases — and that itself was high. In Philadelphia, prosecutors declined just 4% of cases, and in Chicago, 14%, all according to numbers compiled by the Washington Post.”
Perhaps even more remarkably, the U.S. attorney for DC, Matthew Graves, a Biden appointee, says that his office isn’t prosecuting less serious crimes because it’s laser-focused on more serious crimes. If that weren’t reassuring enough, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who was hauled before Congress last week, insisted, “There is not a crime crisis in Washington, DC.” Nothing to see here.
Democrat Washington, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 29, 2023
“There is not a crime crisis in Washington, D.C.” pic.twitter.com/f4tAvzK6E8
According to The Washington Post: “Overall crime was up in D.C. by 23 percent over the same time last year, fueled in large part by a spike in motor vehicle thefts, according to D.C. police data. Homicides were up 19 percent, though violent crime was even with last year because of drops in robberies and assaults with a deadly weapon.”
Hey, at least violent crime has leveled off. Here, we’re reminded of former DC Mayor Marion “B**ch Set Me Up” Barry’s comment about his city’s crime problem: “If you take out the killings, Washington, DC, actually has a very low crime rate.”
Yep, it’s those pesky murders. And except for the genocide thing, Hitler really had it going on. Volkswagen, the autobahn, those nifty jackboots — what’s not to like?
Illegal aliens in DC certainly have plenty to like, as do embassy staff from Russia and China and other places that might wish us harm. That’s because late last year, the DC City Council passed a bill “allowing any adult who had resided within the District for 30 days to vote in the District’s local elections.”
It’s been said that every people gets the government they deserve — even those who live in bloody Chicago and elect soft-on-crime mayors — but it takes a hard heart to believe that the residents of our nation’s capital deserve the incompetence and lawlessness they’re getting these days.
Last Wednesday, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer convened a rare oversight hearing that summoned DC’s leaders to testify before Congress. There, he accused them of “spending money they don’t have on liberal initiatives while carjackings increased 105% from this time last year and property crimes and homicide rates have worsened.”
Comer thinks this situation might leave Congress with no choice but to step in and restore order for the sake of DC’s residents as well as its workers and visitors.
“The crime statistics alone are shocking,” he said. “Just days ago, 14 men were shot in 10 separate incidents within a 27-hour span in Washington, DC.”
To be clear, this isn’t a policing problem. They’re making the arrests, and they’re as frustrated as anyone as they watch prosecutors refuse to move forward with anything but slam-dunk cases. “I can promise you,” said Robert J. Contee III, the District’s police chief, “it’s not MPD holding the bag on this. That’s BS.”
As York concludes: “The bottom line is that what is happening under the Biden administration, an accelerated decline in the prosecution of serious criminals, is entirely consistent with the Democratic rhetoric that Biden and others in his party employed in the 2020 election and beyond. … How high can it go?”
