WASHINGTON — There is a growing trend to combat rising murder rates in cities with gun control and policing. Over Memorial Day weekend alone, Chicago experienced 55 shooting and 12 fatally. The Breitbart News reported that Chicago’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, responded to the violence by pushing more gun control.
Following the Freddie Gray riots, Baltimore also experienced murder rate spikes, and in May 42 people killed, 29 in June, and 45 in July. Since then, Baltimore Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, has joined State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, Acting Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, and U.S. representatives Barbara Mikulski, among others, to implement the Baltimore Federal Homicide Task Force.
Now joining these cities is Washington D.C. The Washington Post reported that Mayor Muriel E. Bowser will ask the D.C. Council “to expand law enforcement powers to make it easier for officers to search individuals on parole or probation and immediately detain anyone found in violation of the terms of release.”
Some quadrants in district are already seeing an increase in policing. Following a shooting in the Shaw neighborhood in Northwest D.C., officers were placed under a red tent near the crime incident. In Southeast D.C.’s public housing complex called Woodland Terrace, the district has added more streetlights and cameras.
This initiative does not come without push back from “Black Lives Matter” organizers who gravely question increased policing as a solution to police issues. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser will hold a press conference today outlining her new agenda to reduce crime in the city. Among the crowd will be Black Lives Matter activists opposing her proposal.
“It seems that they are trying to re-justify stop and frisk at a time when the public has decided that’s not the way we want our communities to policed, said Aaron Goggans, a member of the local chapter of Black Lives Matter. “We want Mayor Bowser to know that there are people in the community who do not think police are the answer.”
Mayor Bowser’s press conference will start at 10:30 a.m. at the former Malcolm X Elementary School near the Congress Heights Metro.
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