Life in Washington DC

By 1989, the annual murder rate rose above 400 and by 1991, it stood at 482. Relative to 100,000 inhabitants, no major American city was worse.

“We are in a war zone…crime is out of control.” So said a prominent member of the District Council that runs the District of Columbia, as the US capital of Washington is officially known.

Trayon White, one of the 13 members of the policy-making Council, was speaking to a crowd of angry residents after a hot August weekend during which six people were shot dead in different parts of the city. White called for the deployment of the National Guard to stem the worst wave of violence in 20 years.

The call for military help prompted residents to ponder a question: Is Washington sliding back to the bad old days of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the city was routinely described as America's “murder capital"?

By 1989, the annual murder rate rose above 400 and by 1991, it stood at 482. Relative to 100,000 inhabitants, no major American city was worse.

The death toll so far this year is modest in comparison, although it reached a number not seen in two decades by the end of August -- 166. But while violence has been surging in Washington, criminologists are reporting that murder rates have been dropping in dozens of other major cities, including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Why the US capital is lagging behind the trend is a question experts have yet to figure out. But there is consensus that the city is unlikely to sink back to the bad old days of the “murder capital.” One of the main drivers then was the fast-spreading use of crack cocaine and its dealers fighting for market share.

The crack epidemic began to fade in the mid-1990s. Who is behind the killings now? Last year, a study by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform and the Metropolitan Police Department found that a small group of people were responsible for 60 to 70 per cent of all gun violence in the city.

The study pointed to street gangs whose members have criminal records and to people who have been victims of gun violence or were, in some way, connected to a recent shooting. More than two-thirds of the shooters and their victims are between the ages of 18 to 34.

Both in the “bad old days” and now, much of gun-related violence takes place in the southeast, predominantly black and poor, neighbourhoods of the city. But lately, property crime has been spreading to parts of the capital long considered safe. That type of crime ranges from carjackings and car theft to burglaries, armed robbery and what has become known as smash-and-grab raids.

These involve dozens or more masked thieves storming into shops, smashing display windows, grabbing merchandise, stuffing it in garbage bags and running out. Few are caught and arrested, and many of the raids take place in wealthy neighbourhoods ranked among the safest in the city.

The CVS pharmacy a few blocks from where I live was raided twice this month, with thieves sweeping shelves clean of beauty products, soap, laundry detergents and a variety of other goods.

These raids have fostered a widespread sense of insecurity not only among city residents but also among foreign diplomats.

On July 24, the Mexican consulate in Washington posted a tweet urging its nationals to “take precautions” in the city due to “a significant increase in crime in areas previously considered safe.”

It was a bizarre twist in warnings about dangers in their respective countries. The US Department of State routinely issues travel warnings to Americans planning to visit Mexico, most regularly during spring break when college students head to Cancun and other beach resorts, as well as Mexican states where drug traffickers hold sway.

One problem in solving the property crimes that make many residents feel more insecure than they did in the peak murder years is that city authorities have not found a way to deal with youthful offenders.

Writing about a violent melee at predominantly black Howard University, Washington Post columnist Colbert King complained about the lenient treatment of young offenders.

The incident he referred to involved around 50 young people involved in a large fight at a restaurant near the campus which injured multiple students and left one hospitalised with stab wounds.

“If by chance the police happen to round up the juveniles who wreaked havoc at Howard," he wrote, "most will be back on the streets before sundown to laugh about it.” King scoffed at a newly passed emergency crime bill the acting DC police chief, Pamela Smith, lauded at a press conference on the latest rash of violence.

Smith noted approvingly that, thanks to the bill, “31 of 103 recent juvenile arrestees have been detained. Smith feels good about that. Seventy-two young suspects now out and about feel even better.”

That might change, DC officials hope, with a youth curfew starting on September 1. It will initially be enforced in a few districts where crime has been running high.

Under the curfew, residents below the age of 16 will be banned from being out in the street from 11 pm to 6 am. On weekends, the curfew starts at midnight. How much change that will make remains to be seen.

(Endit, BD Aug.30, 2023)

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Bernd Debusmann

Bernd Debusmann is a veteran journalist who worked with Reuters for nearly 50 years, reporting from more than 100 countries including conflict zones such as Angola, Eritrea, Central America, Iran and Iraq. He was shot in the back from a passing car in Beirut in 1980, which he calls "censorship by 7.65 mm bullet." It remains encased near his spine as "a permanent souvenir.”

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