Daily Caller, by Varun Hukeri: Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in a letter Monday that she is directing the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to use overtime in order to address growing violence in the nation’s capital.
Bowser said the city is facing a “sustained increase in gun violence” and cited incidents this past weekend, such as the killing of 6-year-old Nyiah Courtney and a shooting outside Nationals Park. In the letter to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Charles Allen, the Democratic mayor called on MPD to use “any overtime necessary to meet our public needs.”
“We have heard the calls from residents in our community most impacted by gun violence: They want to see a strong, sustained police presence,” Bowser said. “They do not feel safe while the threat of gun violence looms. My charge to our police officers is to keep our communities safe and bring justice to those responsible for terrorizing our neighborhoods.”
There has been a surge in violent crime in D.C. this past year. MPD data shows the number of homicides increased 19% in 2020 and has remained constant this year, the Washingtonian reported.
The D.C. Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety cut more than $9.5 million from Bowser’s proposed $578 million police budget for the 2021 fiscal year, WUSA reported. D.C. also reduced the police department’s budget by $15 million in 2020 following Black Lives Matter protests, according to The Washington Post.
Cities across the country have struggled to address rising violent crime since 2020. Many of the cities with record-high crime rates also reduced police budgets, with a number of police departments noting both a lack of resources and diminished morale.
The D.C. Police Union on Sunday blamed elected officials for the city’s spike in violent crime. Union chairman Gregg Pemberton said Monday on the Vince Coglianese Show that local officials have enacted police reforms without consulting law enforcement, resulting in a wave of violent crime.
“The city council here in the District of Columbia has been legislating away all of the tools — the responsible, professional, constitutional tools — that police officers use to keep this kind of violence out of our city,” Pemberton said.
Our Comment:
Violence is taken to the next level. Don’t expect it to be brought back.
Prophetic Link:
“In the days of Noah, violence filled the land; and thus Christ has told us that it will be in the last days. The history of the old world is to be repeated. The perversity and cruelty of men will reach such a height that God will reveal Himself in His majesty. Very soon the wickedness of the world will have reached its limit, and as in the days of Noah, God will pour out His judgments.” Letters and Manuscripts, Volume 18, Letter 250, 1903, par. 11.