Police in Washington, D.C., could receive an increase in funding as Mayor Muriel Bowser continues efforts to boost officer numbers and crack down on crime, according to numbers from her budget proposal unveiled Wednesday.
In her annual proposal, Bowser requested a $515 million police budget — almost a 6% increase from the amount approved for the department last year. As the mayoral Democratic primary nears in June, Bowser has made tackling the district’s rising crime rate one of her top priorities.
“We must throw every resource at reducing crime. We will continue to invest in violence interruption, jobs & opportunity,” Bowser tweeted Wednesday. “We must also hire more police officers, and this budget will put us back on the path to 4,000 officers who can engage residents & visitors.”
The mayor has long advocated increased police funding despite Democratic politicians seeking to allocate funds elsewhere and calls from far-left members of the party to defund the police. Two of Bowser’s opponents in the primary, council members Trayon White and Robert White, have championed alternatives to police funding such as violence prevention forces and mental health first responders.
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Her pro-police funding stance has often caused Bowser to butt heads with the D.C. Council, which is ultimately responsible for approving the district’s yearly budget, after which it is subject to a passive 30-day congressional review. Council members last year wrestled with Bowser’s proposals to hire more officers, eventually coming to a compromise in the budget that allocated funds to both hiring officers in the Metropolitan Police Department and alternative violence prevention methods.
Bowser’s efforts to combat crime with increased police funding have also rankled members of Black Lives Matter even as she publicly supported the political group.
The mayor designated in 2020 the two-block portion of 16th Street Northwest in front of the White House for a BLM mural that was initially painted in June of that year during the riots that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In October 2021, she established the mural as a permanent installation. But that did not save Bowser from criticism when she opted to increase police funding in the 2021 fiscal year budget.
“This is a performative distraction from real policy changes,” the city’s BLM chapter said of the mural when it was first painted in 2020. “Bowser has consistently been on the wrong side of BLMDC history. This is to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands. Black Lives Matter means defund the police.”
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But a rise in crime remains a significant area of concern for locals. A Washington Post poll found that a majority of voters considered crime to be the biggest problem in the city.
In addition to increased police funding, Bowser’s proposal would seek to hire at least 420 more MPD officers, bringing the force’s total strength to 4,000.
