The District responded limply to an increase in gun violence in the past year, mainly with the Metropolitan Police Department’s ineffective All Hands on Deck initiative, which tried to reduce crime by having all officers work overtime some weekends. Luckily, the mayors of eleven East Coast cities have a better idea: a database to share information on known gun offenders. There is no reason Washington shouldn’t sign on.
The database, which will coordinate information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms with local intelligence like interviews with criminals and ballistics records, would allow D.C.’s police to better target gun use and repeat violent offenders. While violence was on the rise nationally last year, Baltimore used these crime-fighting strategies to slow its homicide rate in the second half of the year. Baltimore is one of the major cities that have already agreed to become part of the database, along with New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
Washington especially needs accurate firearm information with its handgun ban in jeopardy. If the Supreme Court agrees with the D.C. Court of Appeals that the ban should be overturned, D.C. will be vulnerable to increased gun crime.
MPD’s All Hands on Deck program, a homegrown attempt to keep down crime, failed to prevent an increase in violent crime its first weekend compared to the same weekend the previous year. This makes the need for outside coordination critical.
“It’s pretty common to match firearms’ trace information with local knowledge about participants in gun crime and discover that particular sources of illegal firearms are dealing with a particular drug crew.” David Kennedy, the director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control in New York, told the Associated Press.
While MPD spokesperson Traci Hughes admitted the need for better tactics, she was unaware of the system.
“We’re always exploring new ways to combat crime. Public safety is always an ever-evolving matter, especially in the District of Columbia,” she said.
MPD’s ignorance of the database aside, D.C. should join and contribute to this potentially very effective and, according to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, low-cost initiative. Mayor Fenty should come to the same realization that Bloomberg has and add Washington to this promising network.
