"Crime Emergency" Declared in DC
What's going on?!?
D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey reacted yesterday to a recent surge in homicides by declaring a "crime emergency," a move that gives him the freedom to quickly adjust officers' schedules and restrict their days off.
Fourteen people have been killed since July 1 in the District, in all quadrants of the city, and police are being pressured to take action by residents at community meetings and vigils to honor the dead.
The victims included a popular store owner slain at closing time, a community activist killed in a park and a British citizen whose throat was slit in Georgetown.
The most recent to die was 23-year-old Michael Dorsey, of Capitol Heights. He was found shot in the chest just after 2 a.m. this morning, in the hallway of an apartment building of Gallaudet St. NE. Three other people were also shot in the city overnight, but were expected to live, police said.
My mother, who was a drug addict and hung out in the worst parts of the city, was shot in DC back in the early 90's when the worst of the crack epidemic was raging. She was shot right in the middle of the day and left on the street to die. Someone finally called an ambulance and she didn't die (that day), but... still.
It seems like not too much has changed since the early 90's.
D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey reacted yesterday to a recent surge in homicides by declaring a "crime emergency," a move that gives him the freedom to quickly adjust officers' schedules and restrict their days off.
Fourteen people have been killed since July 1 in the District, in all quadrants of the city, and police are being pressured to take action by residents at community meetings and vigils to honor the dead.
The victims included a popular store owner slain at closing time, a community activist killed in a park and a British citizen whose throat was slit in Georgetown.
The most recent to die was 23-year-old Michael Dorsey, of Capitol Heights. He was found shot in the chest just after 2 a.m. this morning, in the hallway of an apartment building of Gallaudet St. NE. Three other people were also shot in the city overnight, but were expected to live, police said.
My mother, who was a drug addict and hung out in the worst parts of the city, was shot in DC back in the early 90's when the worst of the crack epidemic was raging. She was shot right in the middle of the day and left on the street to die. Someone finally called an ambulance and she didn't die (that day), but... still.
It seems like not too much has changed since the early 90's.