Homicides, assaults and the number of crimes with dangerous weapons are down in the neighborhood near Phelps A.C.E. High School in Northeast D.C., police said Thursday, but city officials said residents are still concerned about recent acts of violence across the city.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and community leaders in Ward 5 held a “safety walk” Thursday afternoon, hearing from a few residents about neighborhood trends. Among them, Bowser observed, were calls for a playground and abandoned construction projects.
In a news conference before the walk, D.C. police Fifth District Cmdr. Sylvan Altieri said the neighborhood near the school has seen a 67% drop in homicides compared to last year.
“Our homicides are down, our assaults with dangerous weapons are down, our sex assaults are down,” Altieri said.
He attributed that to an approach called “intelligence-based policing,” where police focus on individuals known to be perpetuating violence in the community. That approach, he said, means there may not be police officers patrolling street corners.
Despite the decline, Altieri said, “people all want to feel safe. They don’t want to be afraid.”
Earlier this week, in a different Northeast neighborhood, police said nine people were shot during an outdoor Fourth of July celebration. In separate, unrelated shootings, two other men were killed July 4.
And a man was shot and killed on Catholic University’s Michigan Avenue campus at around 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Bowser used Thursday’s event to announce her support for public safety legislation introduced by DC Council member Brooke Pinto. At the news conference, Pinto said it “seeks to prevent crime and violence by ensuring that we get the balance more right when it comes to pretrial detention.”
“This is an emergency,” Pinto said. “We have to act urgently to address it.”
The emergency legislation needs nine votes to pass.
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Salvador Sauceda-Guzman said that despite positive trends, violence across the city is on residents’ minds.
“Their safety, in terms of just being able to step out of their homes, whether they feel safe or not safe. That’s a great concern right now,” Sauceda-Guzman said.
As Bowser walked the neighborhood, she pointed out a home that had been the site of a recent deadly fire, and recommended her team document infrastructure issues, such as “abandoned construction projects that look like people are building outside of their permit. And DOB is shutting them down. But the property is still an eyesore.”
The city, Bowser said, also has some funding available from its pickleball allotment, and alluded to possibly building courts nearby.
“My assessment is I think this neighborhood’s in pretty good shape,” Bowser said after the walk.
Shawna Dix, principal at nearby Browne Education Campus, said city leaders should focus on how to replicate the neighborhood’s success in other parts of the city.
“Everything that’s happening, the violence within the city … it seems like it’s crisis mode, because every day you turn on the TV, there’s something else,” Dix said.
