DC police staffing drops to lowest level in 50 years
Lucas Tomlinson reports on the increase in crime in Washington, D.C. as police staffing reaches a half-century low.
Five people were shot and killed in Washington, D.C., in a 24-hour period, which brought the shooting death total to 13 in the past week as crime continues to surge in the nation’s capital amid a severe police staffing crisis.
Maxwell Emerson, 25, was shot and killed on the campus of Catholic University Wednesday following an argument. It represented the fifth shooting death in the city in the 24-hour period between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the police department’s website.
Over the past week, Washington, D.C., experienced 13 homicides, and police crime data showed that 125 people have been shot and killed this year, a 17% increase from last year.
The data showed that violent crime and property crime are both up 30%.
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A Washington, D.C., police car. (Getty Images)
The crime spike comes as the city continues to deal with a police staffing crisis, where the number of officers on the force recently fell to its lowest number in 50 years.
"We have too many guns and too many violent people on the street, and we all need to do everything possible to prevent people who have guns from using them in our city," Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said during a Wednesday press conference.
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The skyline of Washington, D.C. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Bowser said that police response times over the 4th of July holiday were "in the margin of what we expect."
"MPD is at a historic low in terms of staffing," Bowser said earlier this year. "We continue to do everything possible as it relates to recruiting the best of the best to serve at MPD."
The city's police budget was cut roughly $23 million by the city council in 2020 amid the George Floyd rioting and nationwide calls to defund the police in a move that Bowser opposed.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a news conference Nov. 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Bowser's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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