Crime in DC- does police do anything?

[Anonymous]

I follow crime updates and it seems in most cases the police wouldn't do much or nothing in response.

Examples:
- In Anacostia a person was carjacked, police saw the car being driven but can't do anything unless they find the car parked.
- a family attached in Bloomingdale 15 yesr old arrested and back on the streets
- packages stolen and reported cops do nothing
Etc

I am concerned about the increasing crime in DC and hearing that cops don't so much is sad. The issues DC faces around homelessness, mental health, young kids on the street are deep societal issues which I would like to get addressed without costing hard working taxpayers their sanity/life.

Can you share instances you know of where cops did nothing and why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I follow crime updates and it seems in most cases the police wouldn't do much or nothing in response.

Examples:
- In Anacostia a person was carjacked, police saw the car being driven but can't do anything unless they find the car parked.
- a family attached in Bloomingdale 15 yesr old arrested and back on the streets
- packages stolen and reported cops do nothing
Etc

I am concerned about the increasing crime in DC and hearing that cops don't so much is sad. The issues DC faces around homelessness, mental health, young kids on the street are deep societal issues which I would like to get addressed without costing hard working taxpayers their sanity/life.

Can you share instances you know of where cops did nothing and why?

Several reasons for your perception:

They are understaffed. Between a bunch of officers who got hired in the last huge crime surge (90s) being eligible to retire and the negative, unsupportive political climate, officers are leaving for better opportunities.

The police and criminal justice reform that many cities are trying to do, including DC, is very short sighted. It looks at the welfare of people who commit crimes, and I'm not saying that's bad. There are always improvements to make our multiple systems more just. However, policy makers and advocates completely ignore those who are victims of crime. And sadly, crime victims, particularly for community violence, are more likely to be lower income communities of color. There is a balance, and politicians should be supporting police to ensure neighborhood streets are safe. Nobody works together in partnership anymore. Everything is adversarial. And this is what we get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I follow crime updates and it seems in most cases the police wouldn't do much or nothing in response.

Examples:
- In Anacostia a person was carjacked, police saw the car being driven but can't do anything unless they find the car parked.
- a family attached in Bloomingdale 15 yesr old arrested and back on the streets
- packages stolen and reported cops do nothing
Etc

I am concerned about the increasing crime in DC and hearing that cops don't so much is sad. The issues DC faces around homelessness, mental health, young kids on the street are deep societal issues which I would like to get addressed without costing hard working taxpayers their sanity/life.

Can you share instances you know of where cops did nothing and why?

None of those issues are best addressed through policing. Or even adequately addressed through policing.

[Anonymous]

If the car that was carjacked was entered into ncic as stolen they could totally do a traffic stop on it while it’s driving. You have missing or inaccurate information on your first example. As far as packages being stolen, if there is no camera footage or suspect info what would you like the police to do exactly?

[Anonymous]

NP. Is the issue juvenile detention centers? Where I'm from under-18s when arrested were sent there. They had work study programs and they did reform kids (I knew kids who had ankle bracelets in high school). From what I can see in DC, kids are arrested and just released that day. Recidivism rates are sky high when kids see that nothing happens when they get arrested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. Is the issue juvenile detention centers? Where I'm from under-18s when arrested were sent there. They had work study programs and they did reform kids (I knew kids who had ankle bracelets in high school). From what I can see in DC, kids are arrested and just released that day. Recidivism rates are sky high when kids see that nothing happens when they get arrested.

Correct. The goal is to release kids from detention. If there were adequate pre-adjudication supervision in place, it may not be as much of a problem.

Add to this that older criminals often incentivize or even threaten younger kids to do criminal acts for them, knowing that there are few, if any, legal repercussions for juveniles.

[Anonymous]

The real answer is that cops do not stop crime they never have and they never will. Cops apprehend and the court system punishes. Cops don’t even punish, that is the court system.

Social services do stop crimes, jobs, education, mental health support, community centers, churches, etc.

The things that stop crime have broken down and that is why crime is up.

[Anonymous]

We were hit by a driver in a stolen car. It was caught on video and showed the license plate. The police seemed responsive but about 3 hours after the crash when we finally left the scene (took that long to get our car towed, have everyone checked by paramedics, etc), we saw the car that hit us abandoned 2 blocks away. I called the police and they said if there wasn’t a person or body in the car they couldn’t do anything!?! I asked why they wouldn’t fingerprint the car. They said not if there’s no one in it. My insurance ended up telling the insurance of the stolen car where the car was actually abandoned. Eventually a detective followed up and had me come in and look at photos. I still didn’t understand why they had not finger printed the car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The real answer is that cops do not stop crime they never have and they never will. Cops apprehend and the court system punishes. Cops don’t even punish, that is the court system.

Social services do stop crimes, jobs, education, mental health support, community centers, churches, etc.

The things that stop crime have broken down and that is why crime is up.

Decades of studies show you are wrong. Mere police presence stops crime, and they don't even have to arrest people. They just have to be there.

Ideally, we as a community would solve concentrated poverty, which is the real problem. But we don't.

Secondarily, we as a community must have adequate responses to respond to people in crisis. And someone holding a knife to their mom's throat or using a machete to carjack a car are community crises. It creates neighborhoods of fear, and that pervasive fear is very damaging to the people who live there. That alone contributes to our systemic disparities. Pull police out and the two remaining solutions are vigilante justice (which we are seeing much more of) or military intervention.

Invest in communities and invest in good policing. That's the only way to stop this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were hit by a driver in a stolen car. It was caught on video and showed the license plate. The police seemed responsive but about 3 hours after the crash when we finally left the scene (took that long to get our car towed, have everyone checked by paramedics, etc), we saw the car that hit us abandoned 2 blocks away. I called the police and they said if there wasn’t a person or body in the car they couldn’t do anything!?! I asked why they wouldn’t fingerprint the car. They said not if there’s no one in it. My insurance ended up telling the insurance of the stolen car where the car was actually abandoned. Eventually a detective followed up and had me come in and look at photos. I still didn’t understand why they had not finger printed the car.

did they arrest the driver at the time of the accident?

[Anonymous]

Here is the perspective of DC police officers.

[Anonymous]

in texas you can use lethal force to protect your property, this would fix a lot of these problems

[Anonymous]

I don't know, does they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the perspective of DC police officers.

This is BS. There was no "defund the police" or "police reform" in DC. People just don't want to be police officers anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:in texas you can use lethal force to protect your property, this would fix a lot of these problems

Somedays I wish DC wasn't this liberal. I hate that their is more focus on theifs wellbeing vs protection the good citizens. I can't believe I live in America and constantly worry about being a crime victim.