With the new year just weeks away, the Bowser administration continues to celebrate a significant reduction in violent crime to pre-pandemic levels.
As of Monday, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has recorded a 35% year-to-date reduction in violent crime, and a similar downward trend of 11% for property crime, 39% for robberies, 40% for carjackings, 29% for assault with dangerous weapons, and 26% for sex abuse.
Officials attribute the change in the tide to interagency collaboration and some of the more controversial elements of D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto’s Secure D.C. Omnibus Amendment Act — drug-free zones, increased criminal penalties for retail theft, and, most especially, pretrial detention.
“There are more people with violent offenses being held and we see the impact of the community,” Lindsey Appiah, deputy mayor of public safety, said Monday during a public safety briefing conducted by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) at the Marion S. Barry Building in Judiciary Square.
Appiah said that, with the passage of the Secure D.C. omnibus bill, judges have been awarded greater discretion in detaining alleged offenders of violent, gun-related crimes.
The influx of alleged violent offenders entering D.C. Jail has brought the population back to pre-pandemic level of nearly 1,200, Appiah said. That development, she told reporters, has inspired confidence among D.C. residents.
“We have asked our residents if they see something, say something and help us close cases,” Appiah said. “Seeing someone who committed a violent offense [return to the community] was eroding trust. [But now] they felt safe helping us. [Secure D.C. legislation] strengthened the trust they [so] they can participate in case closure.”
Families Seek Justice for Deceased D.C. Jail Residents
An amendment in the Secure D.C. omnibus bill requires pretrial detention to “sunset” within 225 days of the bill’s implementation. With that early 2025 date approaching, Appiah said that the D.C. Council is currently awaiting a study about pretrial detention.
Last year, as the D.C. Council passed emergency public safety legislation that would later inspire the Secure D.C. omnibus bill, D.C. Department of Corrections (DOC) channeled resources into programming to enrich D.C. Jail residents and keep them connected with their families.
Residents of the jail participated in these activities at the end of a year in which the D.C. Corrections Information Council (CIC) circulated at least four announcements about deaths in the Central Detention Facility (CDF), Central Treatment Facility and Central Cell Block.
This year, CIC produced at least six announcements. Three of those deaths, including that of Takoma Park, Maryland, resident Sheena Weatherspoon, took place in May. The most recently reported death, in August, involved a resident with a preexisting condition who died after his transfer to Howard University Hospital.
According to documents The Informer obtained, the District reached a $1 million settlement in September with the family of Paul Mannina, a Department of Labor employee accused of sexual assault who died in the D.C. Jail after, as The Washington Post reported, a D.C. Superior Court judge rejected requests to transfer him to mental health treatment. By the time the D.C. Office of the Attorney General solidified the terms, Dena Wynn was on her own mission, still seeking clarity from corrections officials about the death of her son, Anthony McDonald.
McDonald, a 35-year-old father of three, died two days into his one-year sentence on Feb. 16. Wynn noted that, after McDonald’s court appearance on Feb. 14, corrections officials didn’t honor D.C. Superior Court Associate Judge Heidi M. Pasichow’s request that McDonald receive medical care.
“The judge said about two or three times that she didn’t like the way he looked,” Wynn said. “She asked him if he was sleepy. When he got up, he wobbled a bit. Of course they detained him. They took him to jail, never to medical.”
Wynn said her son had only been in jail one other time — in September 2023 when he was detained in Central Cell Block. That experience, she said, spurred his anxiety about serving his sentence locally.
“He kept saying he didn’t want to go over there,” Wynn, referring to D.C. Jail, told The Informer. “His lawyer pushed for him to go straight to the [Federal Bureau of Prisons], since [his sentence] was more than six months. When he was arrested and they did the arraignment, he was telling me the jail was horrible. Anything goes.”
As the one-year anniversary of McDonald’s death approaches, Wynn continues to demand jail and body camera footage, and a guard logbook. She said that the D.C. government provided her with McDonald’s autopsy and death certificate this past fall, after repeated calls to the D.C. medical examiner.
The death certificate, she said, designated the cause of death as “ligature hanging/interval unknown.”
Wynn said that, on the day of McDonald’s death, corrections officials told her that he went into cardiac arrest. A detective, she said, later told her that McDonald died from suicide, though the case file, to Wynn’s knowledge, hasn’t been closed by that time. Wynn later said she spoke with other D.C. Jail residents who mentioned a distressed McDonald attempting to get guards’ attention for 40 minutes.
Another person familiar with the situation, she mentioned, spoke about an altercation involving McDonald and another D.C. Jail resident.
For Wynn, the presence of guards, or lack thereof, appears to be a common factor in all the information that she’s gathered thus far about her son’s death.
“Employees are collecting a check [and] don’t care about the residents,” Wynn said. “Videos, logbooks should be available. Anthony left children, so now I’m here to fend for my grandchildren. The government needs to give us answers.”
The Informer unsuccessfully attempted to gather comment from DOC about McDonald’s death and conditions at D.C. Jail.
In a statement, Pinto said she has “actively engaged” DOC to improve security checks, nutritional and health standards for residents, and funding more staff positions. Similar conversations, she said, have taken place with other entities.
“The Judiciary Committee continues to be actively engaged in conversations with partners across the criminal justice system including federal law enforcement, the Corrections Information Council, advocacy groups, family members of incarcerated residents, and the Auditor’s Office to address safety issues,” Pinto’s statement read. “We are working with DOC to fill its vacancies and to meet its needs [in] the next budget cycle.”
Chief Smith Touts Whole-of-Government Approach, While Bowser Stays Focused on Current Legislative Battles
Upon entering her role, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith touted a whole-of-government approach as paramount in addressing public safety concerns. She reiterated that point during Monday’s public safety briefing, acknowledging D.C. Council legislation that paved the way for D.C. agencies to collaborate on crime reduction.
“We’re working with our partners, such as the Department of Behavioral Health, to bring in extra mental health counselors to help with some of the issues we see,” Smith said. “We’re also working with Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration to identify and shut down 14 illegally operating businesses, and working with Department of Public Works to get rid of abandoned vehicles”
As it relates to MPD’s response to crime, Smith highlighted the Real-Time Crime Center and drone technology as critical tools for detectives. She said that, throughout the 89 drug-free zones created by MPD since the passage of the Secure D.C. omnibus bill, only 12 serious crimes have been documented, Smith said.
Smith also identified Operation THRIVE, the department’s homicide reduction partnership, and Action Teams Leaving Areas Safer, the initiative otherwise known as ATLAS, as two other programs of significance.
She said, under THRIVE, the Anacostia, Rosedale and Washington Highlands communities experienced a reduction in violent crime. Meanwhile, MPD’s non-patrol teams in ATLAS zeroed in on areas with a proliferation of traffic violations and fraudulent plates, documenting 1,600 infractions, making 1,800 arrests, and seizing more than 100 weapons, Smith noted.
This program, and others, Smith called an outgrowth of engagement with D.C. residents and institutions.
“I spent a lot of time focused on meeting members in our community, faith-based organizations, leaders, stakeholders and many members across the city to help us to see what crime looked like, how they would be instrumental in helping us,” Smith said. “We began to look … at all the trends occurring and patterns of offenses we see. … If one person feels unsafe, there’s more work for us to do. I’m pleased with the numbers.”
Earlier this month, the D.C. Council postponed its second reading of legislation intended to increase accountability at D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and more quickly transfer youth residents in their long-term placement. Bowser, who reportedly threatened to veto the ROAD Act, criticized a provision allowing for periodic review of disposition orders when an adjudicated youth hasn’t received placement.
“The very difficult resource problem that D.C. Superior Court has will get even worse if the 10 judges sitting in the Senate don’t get passed,” Bowser said Monday. “And this act [the ROAD Act] would give them more work for young people who’ve been found responsible [of a crime]. That’s not a good use of our time. That’s not a good use of our very limited resources at D.C. Superior Court.”
Bowser went on to promote her legislation, the UPLIFT Amendment Act, as a means of focusing on youth and family accountability. During the council’s Dec. 2 breakfast, Pinto (D-Ward 2), chair of the council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, revealed that the UPLIFT Amendment Act has been tabled for Council Period 25.
Even so, Bowser considers the legislation part of the bigger effort to close accountability gaps in the public safety ecosystem.
“We knew then that changes had been made to the ecosystem over a 15-year time that had a negative effect on public safety,” Bowser said, pivoting to what she considered past legislation of consequence. “I want to thank and give a big shoutout to our public safety team that put work into strategies reflected in our Safer, Stronger 2, Act Now. Most were included in the Secure D.C. omnibus legislation. It was important to rebalance. We got out of balance with accountability. We worked hard with the council to propose common-sense legislation to have immediate impact.”