RePath Round Up--All Eyes on D.C.
Plus, tightening up ankle monitors, swinging in Kentucky, and the new Palmetto Mafia
Crime and the Capital: Over the last two weeks, the White House has staged a federal “surge” in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to reduce violent crime. This includes National Guard units for visibility, plus a mixed stack of federal agents (Marshals, ATF, ICE) working alongside Metro Police. Administration supporters hail the effort as a bold and necessary step, whole opponents see it as authoritarian and dictatorial. One side sees an urban hellscape speeding its decay block by block while the other says crime is already on the decline. As with almost all policy issues in criminal justice, things just aren’t that simple. This may be why Mayor Bowser has taken a critical, but more strategic tone than those outside the city.
Is crime on the way down? It depends on who you ask. The administration says crime was out of control, but the current federal patrols are a spectacular success. D.C. has gone seven days without a homicide and the city has seen immediate decreases in carjackings by 83%, robberies by 46%, car thefts by 21%, and overall violent crime is down 22%. Opponents, like Mayor Bowser say short-term statistics can be misleading and the longer-term statistics show that crime was already falling before the federal patrols:
“We know that crime has gone down in our city, and it has gone down precipitously over the last two years because of a lot of hard work, changes to our public safety ecosystem, including changes to the law, and we know those facts don’t comport to what some people are saying.”
But can you trust the year over year statistics? Mayor Bowser says the downward trends in crime are real and related to city policies. Many disagree. The Justice Department has recently opened an investigation into allegations that Metro Police have manipulated the crime data. This explosive claim is coming from inside the house—the metro police union. The union claims that supervisors often respond to the scene of a violent felony and direct the officers to take a report for lesser offenses. The union has been gathering evidence for an extended period of time and a commander has already been placed on leave for questionable changes to crime data. In a word, the union chairman says the claimed reductions in violent crime are “preposterous.”
Whatever the short or long term statistics say, there are still facts on the ground that will impact crime longer than any federal patrol surge.
D.C. still runs a mostly cashless bail pre-trial system and Trump is calling on congress to reverse it.
2/3 of public school students fail to meet expected standards in English and math and 60% of high school students are chronically absent.
Life expectancy in D.C.’s two poorest wards remains 15 years shorter than the rest of the city.
While the academics and politicians fight over the statistics and policies, the real impact of crime in the city is more than real.
Ankle Monitor Adjustments: Agencies nationwide are tightening policies on ankle monitors. The push is for greater accountability, as frustration grows over crimes committed by individuals already under electronic monitoring. Lawmakers are signaling less tolerance for failures in the system.
Following two murders linked to electronic monitoring failures, a new bill in Ohio is seeking to require real time monitoring and immediate alerts to law enforcement of location or tampering alerts to law enforcement.
In Baltimore, juvenile services has revised its policies to require incarceration until a court hearing for any juvenile with an ankle monitor who is arrested for a new crime.
A new Florida law which takes effect on October 1, 2025, requires revocation of pre-trial release for any individual who tampers with their electronic monitoring device.
Bail in Oregon: Much like with ankle monitors, there is growing argument that bail reform may have over-reformed. While President Trump predictably has called to eliminate cashless bail reforms, even blue states are considering rolling back some of their bail policies. In Oregon, a coalition is working to put the “Oregon Crime Fighting Act” before voters to roll back many of the recent reforms which currently call for the immediate release, without bail or arraignment, for people arrested for hundreds of crimes, including 150 felonies, like auto theft, identity theft, second-degree arson, and failing to register as a sex offender.
Oh to be a Judge in Kentucky: Remember when that sheriff shot that judge in Kentucky in his chambers about a year ago and it seemed like there had to be more to the story? Well, there is. The story is coming out that the judge was allegedly running a sex ring in which young women were coaxed into performing sexual favors to get out of trouble. One witness says she was forced to go along with the sex parties because she feared Child Protective Services would start interfering with her family. She says that basically the whole county knew about it. The sheriff is still held in jail without bond and his attorney says the shooting was a crime of passion due to “an extreme emotional disturbance.”
Stranger Stuff
Gong to Disneyland?: You just won the lottery, what are you going to do? Apparently, drive to Florida, get into a fight, kick a sheriff’s deputy in the face, get tased, get arrested.
La Cosa Nostra: An organized crime ring stole over 6,000 pounds of Palmetto berries in Florida. The berries are used to treat problems associated with urinary health, hair loss, symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, inflammation and irregular testosterone levels. Agricultural Unit detectives had the crew under surveillance and made 11 arrests during a late night berry raid earlier this month.
Zootopia by Blumhouse: A Denmark zoo is asking locals to bring in any “unwanted” pets so they can feed them to their lions and tigers. If you bring in two rabbits or one small dog, you get a zoo tote bag.
Cowboy Cody: A mule-riding Kentucky man is accused of unleashing a raccoon into a bar after being turned away.
Our dreams are shattered: Chuck E. Cheese himself was arrested for credit card fraud in Florida.
Community Services: A former head of community corrections and pre-trial services in Virginia has pleaded guilty in federal court for accessing a protected computer system to provide her then-boyfriend with privileged information, lying to federal investigators, and destroying evidence. She will be sentenced late this year and, at some point, find herself on the other side of community corrections. It’s the circle of life.
