Washington’s Acting Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith said the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is focused on driving down criminal activity throughout the nation’s capital, particularly in high-crime areas. MPD has begun implementing strategies to stop crime, especially that youth commit. A key component of this plan is curfew enforcement for juveniles.
“Those are for kids who are curfew violating, now the kids who are actually engaged in criminal conduct they will be engaged on another path,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said during the same public safety update.
“Officers from our Youth and Family Engagement Bureau will patrol seven initial key focus areas to identify juveniles in violation of curfew,” Chief Smith said.
Additionally, MPD will have police officers patrolling areas where high rates of robberies and carjackings occur, said Smith.
Chief Smith cited two recent incidents involving juvenile crimes. On July 28, MPD arrested 15, 16, and 17-year-old-year-old males for a combined 13 carjacking offenses and three-armed robbery offenses, and on August 11, MPD arrested a 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old for a total of five armed robberies and armed carjacking offenses.
From July 24 to August 8, MPD and its federal partners arrested over 103 juveniles, 31 of whom have been detained, said Smith.
Chief Smith said they were able to arrest these young people because of security camera footage.
“One of the most valuable tools for MPD to address crime is through an investment in security cameras,” Smith said—the reason why they are increasing funding for CCTV cameras in high crime areas.
“We will be adding 50 additional CCTV cameras throughout the city. Mayor Bowser has committed to doubling the number of cameras citywide over the next two years,” Smith said.
To further drive down crime, the MPD will be implementing initiatives to get illegal guns off Washington’s streets.
“Part of our crime fighting strategy is to safely remove illegal firearms from the community. This year so far, we’ve recovered more than 1800 illegal firearms in the district.,” Smith said, which include 257 ghost guns.
Washington residents are being encouraged to call the tip line to report illegal gun activity for a reward.
The rewards associated with gun tips have increased, and any gun tip that leads to the arrest and seizure of illegal firearms results in a $1,000 minimum reward and a maximum reward of $2,500 and even $5,000 if that gun has an automated part.
Bowser’s administration believes this is especially necessary since Washington saw 16 homicides in the first week of August alone, bringing the total this year so far to 161 murders, a 28% increase from 2022. Both murder and gun violence have gone up in the city over the last decade.
Executive Assistant Chief of Police Ashan M. Benedict said MPD, along with its federal partners, retrieved over 3200 guns in 2022, and the total is projected to be the same this year, with many of these guns coming from surrounding states.
“There’s going be a robust effort to look at the data, look at the trafficking patterns, compare that with how the guns are being used in the city, and direct our enforcement efforts in that vein, in their effort to prevent crimes like robberies and carjackings,” Benedict said.
Another part of the plan to bring down crime is to hire more police officers, which has already begun, with a 20 percent increase in the force since adding hiring bonuses a year ago. Now, the MPD is adding another initiative of rewarding MPD employees whose recommendations to the police academy result in the onboarding of an officer.
“Starting today, any MPD employee who refers another candidate will be eligible to receive a $5,000 referral bonus for police officers and $2,000 for new cadets who are onboarded to the department,” Smith said.
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah stressed that all these strategies aim to keep everyone in the city safe from violence.
