It made headlines three years ago: Mayoral candidate Adrian M. Fenty, defying the growing sentiment that something had to be done about crime in the city, was the lone vote in the D.C. Council against an emergency bill introduced by then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams.
“I don’t think there’s any big city mayor who would say this is the way to solve crime,” Fenty said. “The recipe for having a successful big city police department is about having an energetic, well-managed police department.”
Last week, Fenty found himself on the other side of his past, pushing passage of an emergency crime bill some experts claim will help curb the predictable summertime uptick in violence. The majority of the council was as unsympathetic to Fenty’s argument as he had been to his predecessor’s.
Williams had sought to extend the use of cameras in neighborhoods, impose an early curfew, gain access to previously confidential juvenile records, and provide judges with the discretion to detain youth and adults charged with robbery.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other criminal coddlers nearly thwarted Williams’ plan. His effort gained traction only after he agreed to throw millions of public dollars into youth and recreation programs. Much of that money was wasted on a mishmash of projects that did more to prop up struggling nonprofit organizations than to reduce crime.
Not surprisingly, the ACLU and other advocates were back in action last week, urging the council to reject the section of Fenty’s anti-crime bill that targeted gangs. They argued — and the council agreed — that youth somehow would be harmed and subjected to racial profiling if prosecutors were allowed to secure injunctions against alleged gang members.
Truth told, were it not for Ward 2’s Jack Evans, the legislature probably wouldn’t have taken up the mayor’s crime-fighting bill at all. Phil Mendelson, chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, wasn’t eager to bring the measure up for a vote. And while the council agreed to raise mandatory minimum sentences for select felonies, extend gun controls and make it a crime to ride in a car where there is an illegal firearm, other sections of the omnibus crime bill haven’t been brought before the full legislature.
Don’t think the shooting last week at the Columbia Heights Metro Station will change anything. After all, it’s not clear that the individual arrested was a member of any gang or so-called crew. Still, Fenty will ask the council, yet again, to approve emergency legislation on June 30 that will target and generally disrupt gangs — a growing problem in the city.
Good luck with that.
The majority of council members continue to believe that killers, robbers and thugs in waiting can be transformed simply by taking them to the nearest recreation center, unfolding a pingpong table, and giving them two paddles and a ball. That’s the bleeding-heart strategy for crime control.
Jonetta Rose Barras, host of WPFW’s “D.C. Politics with Jonetta,” can be reached at [email protected].
