DC loses a wise chief
Conn Carroll
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Big-city police departments across the country are still struggling in the wake of the George Floyd riots. Violent crime is up and the number of officers is down.
Washington, D.C., hasn’t escaped these trends. Carjackings this month are already three times what they were in April 2020. Homicides are up 16%, rapes up 57%, and auto thefts more than 100% in 2023 over already-high numbers from 2022. And to make matters worse, this is happening as the size of the district’s police force has shrunk to a 50-year low. In the first quarter of this year, the Metropolitan Police Department has been losing more than two officers for each one it hires.
UNDERESTIMATE TUCKER CARLSON AT YOUR PERIL
There are many reasons why Washington, D.C., finds itself in this public safety mess, but its current police chief, Robert Contee, isn’t one of them. If anything, Chief Contee has been a shining beacon of reason surrounded by D.C. Council members and Democrat-appointed prosecutors who only obfuscate, make excuses, and enable criminality.
The D.C. Council, for example, has only sought to make it easier for criminals to avoid justice, and while Democratic prosecutors refuse to prosecute violent offenders, Chief Contee has always understood what needed to be done.
“What we gotta do if we really want to see homicides go down is keep bad guys with guns in jail,” Chief Contee recently told reporters when asked if the district needed to change its approach to crime. “Because when they are in jail, they can’t be in communities shooting people. So when people talk about what we’re gonna do different or what we should do different or what we need to do different, that’s the thing that we need to do different.”
“We need to keep violent people in jail,” Contee added. “Right now, the average homicide suspect has been arrested 11 times prior to them committing a homicide. That is a problem.”
Chief Contee is right: If prosecutors don’t strive to keep violent people in jail after the police arrest them, then they are only going to keep committing more violent crimes.
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Yesterday, it was announced that Chief Contee would be stepping down to take a high-level job with the FBI. I wish him the best. He has earned it.
But this city desperately needs leadership like his right now. And I’m afraid public safety in Washington, D.C., is only going to get worse without him. I hope I’m wrong.