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House Hearing Highlights the Alarming Rise in Violent Crime in the Nation’s Capital

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  March 22, 2024 3:45 PM

On Thursday, members of the House Administration Committee held a hearing on the alarming rise of crime in the nation’s capital. 

The hearing, titled “Safety on Capitol Hill: DC Crime’s Impact on Congressional Operation and Visitors,” featured U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Union Chairman Greggory Pemberton, and the Manhattan Institute’s Rafael Mangual.

In his opening remarks, GOP Rep. Bryan Steil (WI) pointed out that in 2020, the D.C. City Council cut $15 million from the police department’s budget. In addition, the council passed measures that curtailed the police department’s authority. In recent years, U.S. Congress has had to step in to stop soft-on-crime legislation from being enacted in the District of Columbia, which Townhall has covered.

“In 2023, violent crime was up 39 percent year over year in our nation’s capital. There were over 6,800 motor vehicle thefts in D.C. There were 959 carjackings. For context, there were 152 carjackings in 2019. In Ward 6, specifically, which includes the United States Capitol, there were over 150 robberies in the past six months and 350 vehicles were stolen,” Steil said. 

Steil noted that two of his staff members were mugged at gunpoint near the U.S. Capitol. Townhall previously reported how Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX) was carjacked in D.C. late last year.

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“Each of these statistics represents a staff member, a visitor, a member of Congress,” he added. 

In his remarks, Pemberton noted that there’s been a “mass exodus” in the police department in recent years. 

“Since the beginning of 2020, the MPD has lost 1,426 officers, more than one-third of the department. Five hundred and forty of those separations, nearly 40 percent, were resignations, employees who just walked away from a career with the MPD. The MPD currently has over 500 vacancies…our chief of police has testified that it will take over a decade to fill them,” he said. 

“Crime stats in the District closing out 2023 are absolutely staggering. Homicides have reached 274, a 35 percent increase. Carjackings reached 958, a 105 percent increase. Robberies were up 67 percent and violent crime overall went up 39 percent, and all crimes went up 26 percent,” he continued.

In the hearing, Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito pointed out that in the District of Columbia, Democrats have passed legislation that makes the community more dangerous. 

“People took pens, put them to paper, and passed legislation to make this country less safe, to make the jobs of law enforcement harder and to give criminals free reign to do whatever it is they want without repercussions,” D’Esposito explained, adding, “Here on Capitol Hill, you can’t go into a CVS and get batteries because they’re locked up. Why? Because people go into stores, take whatever they want and walk right out. That is the country, that is the city, that Democrats have created.” 

In January, multiple outlets noted how a Washington, D.C. CVS store was forced to close its doors after it was relentlessly targeted by thieves. Before the store shuttered, the location went viral for stripping all its products from the shelves and requiring customers to ask for assistance to get the products they need.

“If we do not undo the failing policies put in place by the D.C. council that are pushing our police officers to leave MPD, crime will continue to rise and thousands more victims will be subjected to crime and violence,” Pemberton said.