After a recent spate of violence across the District, residents and leaders in Ward 8 came together to suggest ideas to decrease crime Thursday evening, such as allocating more money toward housing and other public needs.
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There have been 127 homicides in the District this year, up 8 percent compared with this time in 2020.
On Wednesday, D.C. police arrested a 16-year-old in the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old outside a high school in Northeast Washington, a slaying participants in the meeting mentioned specifically because of the victim’s youth. And on Sunday, two men were fatally shot just hours and blocks apart in Anacostia, the same neighborhood where Thursday night’s gathering took place.
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“What we saw last week is really alarming and disturbing,” said D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8), noting the Northeast incident and multiple other shootings that took place over the previous weekend. “We have a lot of work to do.”
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The meeting at the UPO Anacostia Community Service Center, which lasted just over two hours, included White, D.C. Gun Violence Prevention Director Linda Harllee Harper, D.C. police Cmdr. John Branch and dozens of Ward 8 residents. All expressed fatigue at watching such incidents unfold again and again. More participants chimed in via Facebook, voicing the desire for more robust action from the city government to prevent crime.
“We have to get to the point where we all expect zero murders,” Harper said.
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Harper, who was appointed to the newly created position in January, said the stabbing of 15-year-old Kemon Payne hit particularly close to home, because she has a 15-year-old, too. Since February, she has gone to a meeting at 8:30 every morning with other city leaders focused on reviewing the violence from the night before.
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District leaders said crime rates are higher in regions where residents do not have adequate access to jobs, housing, food or other needs. Harper said the mayor’s office has been working on providing public health programs such as Building Blocks DC, an initiative started under Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) to lower gun violence by coordinating crime intervention, social services and community outreach in 151 blocks that the city has identified as hot spots for crime. In the past year, the mayor’s office made an initial $15 million investment in gun violence prevention, and the fiscal 2022 budget will include about $59 million for such efforts.
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“Are we going to solve gun violence by ourselves? No,” Harper said. “But I do believe we’re in a unique position.”
But more work needs to be done to ensure that those who need the resources know they are available, she said. Many of the people who are eligible for the city’s programs don’t know that they are.
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White invited residents in the crowd to share potential solutions.
Most asked for more money to ensure that residents have access to food, housing and other needs, especially as the District continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. These services were vital in addressing the underlying causes of gun violence, they said.
Leaders from Ward 8 agreed. The city government will continue to identify other programs to help young people access job opportunities through preemployment training and other resources, Harper said.
Branch told participants that he was encouraged by what they were saying. He said he thinks Building Blocks DC is helping decrease crime in the area.
“We’re not going to arrest ourselves out of this situation,” Branch said. “We never were.”