RPT - Boosting Police Funding Not The Answer To DC Crime Wave - Experts

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2023) Increasing police funding, putting more officers on the street, and imposing tougher sentences are not the solutions to Washington, DC's rising crime rate, which must be addressed through structural and social changes, experts told Sputnik.

Washington, DC's overall crime rate is up 25% in 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to police data released earlier this week. Homicides have risen by 35%, sex abuse 123%, and motor vehicle theft 109%, among other crimes, the data revealed.

Ron Hampton, a retired officer who served with Washington's Metropolitan Police Department for 21 years, said the city is "missing the boat" when it comes to the solution to combating crime.

"Mayor Muriel Bowser wanted to increase money for the police department and hire more people. She's hung up on idea that 4,200 police will deliver us from evil," Hampton, who is also a former executive director of the National Black Police Association, said. "For some reason, politicians don't have what it takes to separate themselves from the idea that we can't arrest our way out of this."

When the number of people on the force falls from prescriptive numbers, he added, "politicians panic."

"The city is trying to recruit more cops and entice them with a $6,000 bonus.

They need teachers in DC and social workers but they don't get bonuses," Hampton said. "They believe cops are enough."

William & Mary Law school Professor Kami Chavis, the director of the university's Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Reform, warned that a deep analysis of the data is required to avoid ineffective solutions.

"I think a lot of people are using these figures for more jails, higher sentences and harsher penalties," Chavis, a former US Federal prosecutor, said. "But we already know that that doesn't work."

Hampton said there are problems the city needs to address from a social service standpoint, but is failing to do so.

The former DC police officer recommended including as a regular part of the police funding process Credible Messengers and "violence interrupters" because they are so important to preventing violent crime.

According to the Credible Messenger Justice Center, Credible Messengers are individuals who can connect with at-risk youth to transform destructive thinking and actions. The Cure Violence advocacy group describes "violence interrupters" as those with the ability to talk to gang members and utilize personal relationships to prevent escalating gang violence.