The D.C. Council is officially on summer break, but on Tuesday local lawmakers were meeting at City Hall, listening to the mayor and police chief lay out their strategy for tackling a recent spike in violent crime.
The council will gather again today at 1 p.m. to consider Mayor Anthony Williams’ emergency crime-fighting program, a series of proposals aimed at cutting the district’s violent crime rate in half over 30 days. The district is in the midst of a crime emergency, called by Chief Charles Ramsey after a sharp increase in homicides and other violent crime.
The plan includes surveillance cameras in high-crime neighborhoods, earlier curfews — at the mayor’s discretion — for the city’s youth, $8 million in additional overtime funding for police officers, and a statutory change providing police with confidential information about juvenile delinquents.
“The spike in crime is totally unacceptable and we’re here today to do something about it,” said Council Chairman Linda Cropp.
The proposal is in part controversial, particularly the cameras, and might be broken into pieces today in order to save the entire program.
