In DC, too often national politics have local impacts

Park Police
Originally uploaded by Danilo763.

U.S. Park Police Officer by the Hirshorn Museum on the National Mall, Washington, DC. Flickr photo by Danilo763.

Sam Smith at his City Desk blog has more comments about DC's "crime wave," including this:

THE PROBLEM with DC's so-called "crime explosion" is not the crime rate is up all that much. Rather, the people getting killed and robbed are of the wrong color - white - and in the wrong places - Georgetown and the national Mall. Anyone who doesn't believe that ethnicity plays a big role in all of this need only compare the national and local coverage of one murder in white Georgetown compared to all those in black Anacostia.

It is said by some that DC has the third highest crime problem rate in the country. That's only if you include just the biggest cities. Camden NJ; Detroit, St. Louis, Flint, Richmond VA, Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans, Gary, Birmingham, Richmond CA; and Cleveland do worse according to the Morgan Quinto index.

The increase in robberies, which the Washington Post, described as a "crisis" is 14% so far this year, according to the police department. Somehow we managed a 15% increase in robberies last year without a crisis. If the 15% remains for the rest of the year, DC will be back at 2002 levels and still about 50% lower than in 1995. One thing more, robberies in nicely white and suburban Fairfax County are up 30% so far this year without an ounce of national publicity.

and this:

As for the incidents on the Mall, you can thank the Bush machine for helping them happen. Bush's people at Interior fired National Park Service police chief Teresa Chambers after she warned that her staff and budget was too small to protect NPS spaces such as the Mall. FORMER CHIEF CHAMBERS INTERVIEW.

That was the exact comment I made on the Post.com website in response to this article, " Park Police Shift Duties To Increase Mall Patrols."

Index Keywords: public-safety