Washington, D.C

DC crime continues to soar as carjackings hit over 900 for 2023

Published

7 months ago

December 3, 2023

DC crime continues to soar as carjackings hit over 900 for 2023

Washington, D.C., is continuing to see a steady increase in crime, and the most recent data released on Thanksgiving shows that there have been over 900 carjackings in the district this year.

As of Friday, there have been 911 carjacking offenses in 2023, and 77% of the carjackings involved guns. Only 244 carjacking cases have been closed, and 159 carjacking arrests have been made. Of the arrests, 65% involved juveniles. For comparison, the number of carjacking incidents reached 485 in 2022.

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“The crime of ‘carjacking’ — which is stealing a car by force — captures headlines across the country,” the Metropolitan Police Department states on its website. “Statistically speaking, however, your chances of being a victim of carjacking are very slim, and taking preventive measures can reduce that risk even more.”

There have been several high-profile instances of carjackings or attempted carjackings within the last two months, with 6,372 cars stolen this year.

In October, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) was carjacked in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood. He was not injured, and his car was later recovered. He said the suspects appeared to be young men.

Secret Service agents who were on duty protecting President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden reacted to a carjacking attempt on Nov. 13 by opening fire on three suspects who attempted to break into their unmarked vehicle in Georgetown.

On Nov. 21, four armed suspects stole a car and high-priced jewelry in a carjacking. The suspects bumped their Lexus into a BMW, and when the victims pulled over to assess the damage, the suspects exited their vehicle with handguns and ordered the three victims to get out of the car. Among the things stolen from the car were two rings, one worth $2,000 and one worth $5,000.

Eight days later, an FBI agent reported to local police that armed suspects had stolen his vehicle. The car was recovered roughly a mile away about a half hour later.

The rise in juvenile criminals in Washington is partnered with a lack of strong policies to detain or prosecute them. Lindsey Appiah, deputy mayor for public safety, drew attention to Washington Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s opposition to increased pretrial detentions for juvenile offenders during a public hearing in February. Schwalb has been criticized for the lack of prosecution of repeat offenders, particularly juveniles.

“[We’ve seen] increases in categories like carjacking and otherwise. … We have not seen a corresponding increase in commitment,” Appiah said at the time.

In the district, all crime is up 27%. Among the increases in crimes for 2023 are violent crime by 40% and property crime by 25%. Within property crime, motor vehicle theft is up 92%.

Several national lawmakers have called on Washington leaders to crack down on crime. Cuellar called the over 900 carjackings an “incredible number” on Friday.

“Bottom line is what you’ve got to have is you got to have the resources. You got to support the police. You got to have the right laws to have repercussions,” Cuellar said. “That is, if somebody breaks the law, then you make sure you enforce that law. Otherwise, it’s going to continue going. I mean, how can you have, at the nation’s capital, over 900 carjackings in 11 months? That’s just something that has to change.”

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who has been vocal about the rise in crime in the district, introduced a resolution condemning Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Councilman Charles Allen, and other Washington government leaders for their “failure” to stop the “crime epidemic plaguing their city.”

“Washington, D.C., continually elects politicians that put wokes before the folks, and those chickens have come to roost,” Collins said in a statement to the Washington Examiner in response to the recent carjackings and crimes in Washington.

Washington’s attempts to fight crime have been met with many roadblocks, which some lawmakers like Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and members of the D.C. Council have blamed on the district’s lack of statehood. In February and March, the House and Senate voted to overturn an overhaul of the criminal code, marking the first time in 30 years that Congress has repealed a local law passed by the D.C. Council.

Starting on Nov. 7, Washington police began handing out free AirTags for residents living in carjacking hot spots as part of an initiative from the Metropolitan Police Department and Bowser to crack down on carjacking. The government allocated the tags to those living in Police Service Areas 106, 501, 502, 603, 605, and 606.

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“These tracking devices allow our officers and detectives to be better positioned to quickly locate stolen vehicles, recover property, and gather vital evidence for investigations,” acting Police Chief Pamela Smith said.

On Nov. 6, 840 carjackings had been reported, and that number grew to over 900 just three weeks later.

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Washington, D.C

KY homelessness activists heading to D.C. after Supreme Court ruling

Published

50 mins ago

June 29, 2024

Press Room

KY homelessness activists heading to D.C. after Supreme Court ruling

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that homeless people can be arrested and fined for sleeping outside. The ruling overturned a law in the West that determined punishing someone for sleeping on public property who has nowhere else to go was a violation of the 18th Amendment and constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

We have local reaction from the Supreme Court’s decision. A large crowd gathered outside of the Catholic Action Center, set to take a trip to Washington D.C.

They’re headed to the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March taking place Saturday.

“This is not one of those happy go lucky trips that we’re on.”

Tayna Fogle stood before several people outside of the Catholic Action Center just before departing for D.C.

This group, equipped with matching t-shirts, includes at least 45 members of The Street Voice Council in Lexington.

“We are at a starting line trying to get to the finish line as far as being homeless, as I always say, we just need a little bit of help, and this is a start,” said Greg Searight.

Searight, ambassador for The Street Voice Council, like Maurice Noe, a leader from Vocal Kentucky, has this reaction to the Supreme Court ruling.

“Today, this just shows that people in America, they don’t have a voice, they don’t have a voice,” said Noe.

House Bill 5, the Safer Kentucky Act, goes into effect July 15, meaning anyone unlawfully camping can be arrested or fined.

Jacques Wigginton addressed this group’s mission and how it plans to protest HB 5.

“It’s time for all of us to get off our couch, and make a statement, because otherwise, we become complicit in what we do.”

The effort continues on a nine-and-a-half-hour trip to D.C. after three months of planning for this event.

Former urban county councilmember Jacques Wigginton told us Friday that the group making the trip to D.C. is “part of an overall movement, that is a call to morality.”

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Washington, D.C

American Airlines and Flight Attendant Union Summoned to Washington DC On Saturday As Strike Ruling Looms

Published

8 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

American Airlines and Flight Attendant Union Summoned to Washington DC On Saturday As Strike Ruling Looms

American Airlines and the union which represents tens of thousands of flight attendants at the carrier have been summoned to a rare Saturday meeting of the National Mediation Board (NMB) in Washington DC as a decision looms over whether flight attendants will be allowed to go on strike.

The NMB is an independent federal agency which oversees labor relations in the railway and aviation sectors. The NMB’s three-person board of members selected by the President gets the ultimate say over whether transport workers are allowed to go on strike.

Despite the overwhelming majority of flight attendants at American Airlines voting to back strike action back in August 2023, the NMB has so far blocked the union’s request to take ‘self-help’ action and has been pushing the two sides to reach a compromise deal in protracted contract talks.

Those negotiations entered a new make-or-break phase several weeks ago, but despite intensive bargaining sessions, which even involved Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su meeting flight attendants, the talks ended in failure.

Since then, the NMB has been mulling whether to finally allow American Airlines flight attendants to go on strike.

That decision may be announced after the agency summoned representatives from American Airlines and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) to the NMB’s headquarters in Washington DC, on June 29.

“After weeks of intensive mediation broke off last week, your APFA Negotiating Team has continued to aggressively press our case that American Airlines Flight Attendants need a contract that addresses our concerns,” the union said in a statement.

“The time is long overdue for American Airlines management to resolve these negotiations and agree to the contract we deserve.”

If the NMB does approve the union’s request to take self-help action, the agency will declare an impasse in negotiations and release the two sides into a 30-day cooling-off period, after which flight attendants would be allowed to go on strike.

The flight attendant union has already indicated that it wouldn’t call an all out strike but instead adopt the so-called CHAOS system which was pioneered by sister union, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA).

CHAOS, which stands for ‘Create Havoc Around Our System’, involves calling out flight attendants from seemingly random flights at the last minute. The tactic means that the airline wouldn’t have enough time to restaff affected flights while passengers would have no idea if their flight were about to be hit by a walkout.

Of course, the tone of the union’s Friday afternoon memo also suggests that the two sides may be nearing a compromise deal and strike action could be averted.

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Mateusz Maszczynski

Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying throughout the COVID-19 pandemic for a well-known European airline. Matt is passionate about the aviation industry and has become an expert in passenger experience and human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt’s industry insights, analysis and news coverage is frequently relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism.

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Washington, D.C

Best spots to see fireworks in the D.C. area for July Fourth

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2024

Press Room

Best spots to see fireworks in the D.C. area for July Fourth

Looking for a show in the sky to celebrate America’s birthday? Here are some of the best D.C.-area spots to see fireworks in the next week.

The West Lawn of the Capitol opens at 3 p.m. for the audience of the free A Capitol Fourth concert, hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, which begins at 8. Performers include Smokey Robinson, Fantasia, Darren Criss, Fitz and Noelle of Fitz and the Tantrums, Sheila E., the National Symphony Orchestra and various military bands. The fireworks display begins at 9:09 p.m., and the concert is timed so the NSO performs Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture while the fireworks are booming over the Washington Monument. Visitors will be required to go through security screenings to enter the Capitol grounds or public viewing areas on the Mall west of 14th Street. (There’s a map of closures, first aid stations, restrooms and other important landmarks on the National Mall website, nps.gov/nama.) If the crowds or the lines are too much, there’s usually more room to spread your picnic blanket closer to the Smithsonian Castle.

Mount Vernon’s An American Celebration gets underway at 9:30 a.m. with a reading of the Declaration of Independence and features an 18th-century magic show, Revolutionary War music and Army encampments, talks with reenactors, and, to the delight of all ages, daytime fireworks that create billowing puffs of colorful smoke over the Potomac River at 1 p.m. Admission is $26 for adults, $13 for kids, and free for children age 5 and younger.

Fireworks beyond the Fourth

Love shimmering pyrotechnic displays but can’t swing it on July Fourth? Fear not: The fun isn’t limited to Thursday night. Here are more events taking place throughout the week leading up to the holiday.

Saturday: Fireworks, Food and Family Fun at Lake Fairfax

Fairfax County’s annual celebration kicks off at noon June 29 with live music and food trucks, while fireworks begin at 9:15 p.m. Tickets are $15 per car in advance, which does not include admission to the Water Mine Family Swimmin’ Hole; those tickets are sold separately.

Tuesday: Vienna’s Independence Day Celebration

The town of Vienna’s annual party fills George C. Yeonas Park with a mix of live music — Latin American from Cantaré, pop and funk from Thunderball — as well as family activities, food trucks and picnicking on baseball fields. The event runs from 6 to 10 p.m., with fireworks beginning around 9:30. Free parking is available off-site.

Wednesday: Baseball and fireworks

Fireworks illuminate baseball diamonds across the region on Independence Day Eve. The Nationals, who won’t have fireworks after their July 4 day game, will launch “Freedom Fireworks” after the last out of their 6:45 p.m. game against the Mets on July 3. The Bowie Baysox, who regularly host fireworks after weekend games at Prince George’s Stadium, promise their biggest show of the year after the Orioles’ AA affiliate’s 6:35 p.m. game against the Richmond Flying Squirrels. The single-A Fredericksburg Nationals, home of the regular “Fireworks Friday” promotions, host a “patriotic edition” of the popular event following a 6:05 p.m. game against the Delmarva Shorebirds.

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