Ward 5 is going hard!

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - D.C. Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. on Thursday called for a crime emergency to quell a spate of shootings and homicides in his Northeast Washington neighborhoods, an initiative the police chief has resisted because she says it’s too costly and burdensome to her troops.

But Thomas said the violence — 10 homicides in Ward 5 since January — requires extreme measures.

“It’s a drastic measure, but these are drastic times,” Thomas said. “We have to do this.”

Police spokeswoman Traci Hughes said D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier won’t call for a crime emergency, but has been in regular contact with Thomas to try to close the recent shooting cases. The police commander for the Fifth District, which encompasses most of Ward 5, has plans in place and is readying for the summer months.


“There are already officers, there’s already increased presence,” Hughes said.

Crime in the Fifth District is down by about 7 percent this year, according to police statistics.

A crime emergency allows the District to quickly suspend officers’ schedules and order them to work overtime shifts. Former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey employed the strategy in 2006 after the city witnessed 14 homicides in 13 days.

During the five-month emergency that year, violent crime declined by more than 19 percent, and overall crime was down more than 14 percent citywide, Thomas said. Spikes in both homicides and robberies were also reversed.

Officers worked six-day weeks, clocking more than a quarter-million hours in overtime, police officials said, and costing the District tens of millions of dollars.

Union officials complained the long work weeks burned out the officers.

Lanier has vowed to avoid crime emergencies. She has sought innovative and less expensive ways to fight crime, including increasing foot patrols and ordering All Hands on Deck initiatives that flood the streets with all 3,900 uniformed officers five weekends out of the year. Last month, she unveiled a plan to ask residents to let police search their homes for weapons, but has since acknowledged that the initiative was mistakenly rolled out after she received numerous complaints from residents and civil libertarians.

Homicides last year increased by 12 from 2006, but the figure marked the second-fewest in nearly three decades.

As of Thursday, homicides in 2008 remained 18 percent fewer than last year.

*At the time of this article it was 10 homicides now they up to like 17 or 18.

Thanks.... Washington Post Writer