Save us from handwringers, panderers, preservers of ineffective public policy and the American Civil Liberties Union. They all want to play dodgeball and hopscotch with criminals. They haven’t seen a thug they didn’t want to “give some love” — never mind that thug may have just robbed an old lady or shot a kid.
Even after District leaders’ declaration of a crime emergency, people continue to be killed or physically harmed. Youth under 16, facing a 10 p.m. curfew, still haunt the streets at ungodly hours looking for their next thrill — stabbing someone in Georgetown or Adams Morgan.
The ACLU sees curfew enforcement as a civil liberties recruitment tool; the organization gives new meaning to the term “ambulance chasers.” (I confess a long-standing disagreement with the ACLU over its penchant for getting in the way of citizens wanting safer streets.)
Others in the city inject race, suggesting that elected leaders only act when a white man is harmed. Still others see dead presidents and an opportunity to feed at the public trough; they want money for nebulous programs whose effectiveness has never been evaluated. The city already spends nearly half of its $7 billion on social service and public safety.
But these special interests groups aren’t the only obstacles to order and sanity in a city touched by a killing fever. Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey is equally to blame, as are Mayor Anthony Williams and his 13-member bleeding heart back up singing group known as the D.C. Council.
During discussions around the overly praised crime emergency legislation, Ramsey asserted that the MPD wasn’t out to arrest youth for stealing gum at the 7-Eleven. Too bad. It should be.
Growing up in New Orleans, my grandmother Rose’s favorite axiom was, “If you lie, you’ll steal; if you steal, you’ll kill.” Each time she made that statement, she was posting a danger ahead sign. The slope is extremely slippery. The loss of morals, values and ethics begin with the smallest, seemingly insignificant action.
Zero tolerance should be the order of the day. The chief isn’t having it. He doesn’t even like the phrase. This aversion to aggressive policing has the city at the mercy of criminals, thugs and unruly youth whose parents want the government to do what they can’t or won’t do.
In Williams’ first term, he promised zero tolerance. He also promised an administration keen to the broken window theory, which argues that abandon buildings, trash-strewn streets and gaggles of unkempt people on corners are invitations to criminals to set up shop. The policy is unpopular, especially in African-American communities. Williams backed away.
Now, he wants to paint the town blue, pass out lots of cash to every open hand and throw up surveillance cameras to catch the action — but only for 60 days.
Have mercy!
Jonetta Rose Barras is the political analyst for WAMU radio’s D.C. Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta. She can be reached at [email protected]
