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[0] Crime in Washington, D .C., reached record highs last year with more than 250 homicides and an 82 % spike in motor vehicle theft.
[1] Last week, a father and former Trump administration official died after a violent carjacking in the city, just the latest citizen affected by D .C .'s car theft epidemic.
[2] The D .C. City Council voted this week to pass the secure D .C. Omnibus Bill in order to address violent crime in the nation's capital.
[3] But many believe prosecutors and judges are not doing enough to hold criminals accountable.
[4] In this episode of MorningWire, we speak to a D .C. resident and former neighborhood commissioner about the crime problem and potential solutions.
[5] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[6] It's Saturday, February 10th, and this is an extra edition of Morning Wire.
[7] Joining us now to discuss the rampant crime in our nation's capital is attorney and former D .C. Neighborhood Commissioner Denise Rucker Krep.
[8] Denise, thank you so much for coming on.
[9] Thank you for having me today.
[10] Now, first off, Denise, you were formerly a D .C. Neighborhood Commissioner.
[11] How did you get involved in that role, and where in the city do you live?
[12] How to get involved?
[13] I got involved after a neighbor of mine was violently raped.
[14] I was a elected official.
[15] It was my first year.
[16] And based on my legal training, I went to the Department of Justice and said, how many raids on the city are you prosecuting?
[17] And then when they pushed back, I foyer them.
[18] submitted a Freedom of Information Act request, and then when they pushed back again and said, no, no, we don't keep it.
[19] I worked with some friends of mine and sued them.
[20] And not only did I sue them, but then I worked with friends of mine on the Hill.
[21] You know, and this is an important point.
[22] Crime is not partisan.
[23] It should never be viewed as partisan.
[24] And I don't even say that as being a Democrat who served in the Obama administration.
[25] I partnered with Senator Grassley, a Republican, to get the information that I needed.
[26] And the Senator Grassley taught me a very important point, and that is the power of the purse, and that's the power of Congress.
[27] So Grassley went to the Department of Justice and said, well, if you want me to confirm the acting U .S. attorney for the District of Columbia and you want him to be permanent, then you will share the information.
[28] And that's really what forced the Department of Justice to share the information in 2016 was Congress.
[29] I mean, I was just an itty -bitty little nobody locally elected official in D .C. who made the ask, it was Senator Grassley with the heft and the gravitas of being a senator who forced them to change.
[30] And that's something that can happen today.
[31] But we have members of coppers, Democrat and Republican, could very easily go to the Department of Justice since we are beginning the authorization of an appropriation season and say, if you want your money this year, you will start sharing information about what you're prosecuting.
[32] If you want us to give you the money for the prosecutors here in Washington, D .C., then you will tell us what you're prosecuting.
[33] And if you don't, then, well, you don't need a budget.
[34] And that's something I think we should all be encouraging.
[35] Just follow what Senator Grassley did and hold them accountable.
[36] Now, what is the hesitation with regard to prosecuting something like rape?
[37] What reason do they give for not wanting to do that?
[38] They don't.
[39] They don't.
[40] With my neighbor's case, I sat in court And I had some very frank conversations with the Department of Justice.
[41] And I said, you will prosecute this case.
[42] You will ensure that the individual, he was a serial rapist, goes to jail.
[43] And they did.
[44] To their credit, the Department of Justice did their job.
[45] The guy was sentenced to 60 years in prison, 6 -0.
[46] And then you know what the D .C. Council did?
[47] They wrote a piece of legislation that then amended the court decision and said that the individual, serial rapist, would be eligible for early release after 15 years.
[48] So all he had to do was serve one -fourth of a sentence.
[49] Again, why?
[50] It's mind -blowing.
[51] So speaking of new crime policy, D .C.'s City Council just put together a massive new public safety bill.
[52] It's called Secure D .C. What's in that bill?
[53] And do you expect that it will make D .C. more safe?
[54] So I we'll call this part two.
[55] And I'd say we're going to call this part two because last year the D .C. Council attempted to pass a bill that had a lot of, well, very bad language in it that was very helpful, I guess we'll say, to criminals.
[56] And that's why the House vetoed it and the Senate vetoed it and the president vetoed it.
[57] And then they waited another year.
[58] And in that year, in 2003, there were 959 carjackings and 6 ,829 car theft, and 3 ,470 robberies, and 274 homicides.
[59] and that then spurred them to write a piece of legislation that was going to be, well, 180 degrees different than part one.
[60] So that's why I call this part two.
[61] Part two includes provisions that crack down on crime.
[62] I view it as a improvement, but there is, very honestly, a provision in there that troubles me. And this provision would require the D .C. Council, and you guys aren't going to believe this, but they're doing this.
[63] They're going to put into law that they are going to be required.
[64] required to put a convicted felon on the D .C. sentencing commission.
[65] So it's not a victim, but a convicted felon.
[66] So that's one of my objections to this piece of legislation is that they're putting into law that they're going to be required to put a convicted murderer or rapist on the D .C. Sentencing Commission.
[67] But otherwise, it's much better than part one.
[68] Yes.
[69] Now, I'm just processing that.
[70] That is an interesting provision that they've decided to add.
[71] Hopefully the community can decide which convicted felon.
[72] So, 2023, it sounds like, was the deadliest year in D .C. since the late 90s.
[73] I'm pretty stunned by some of the statistics that you shared.
[74] What do you attribute this rising crime to?
[75] I mean, just in terms of things that you're seeing and what you understand about the law, are there very direct factors that are contributing to this?
[76] Oh, absolutely.
[77] Yeah.
[78] So how did we end up here?
[79] Well, it was a combination of factors.
[80] First, we had a D .C. Council that was writing laws that were very friendly to individuals who were committing armed and violent offenses.
[81] They were saying, you know, hey, you're under the age of 26.
[82] We think your brain is still forming.
[83] Therefore, because you're under the age of 26, you're going to receive a lesser prison sentence.
[84] Now, if you kind of wrap your head around that one a little bit, you then think about all of the men and women who served in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan, under the age of 26, and we considered them adults, but in Washington, D .C., they were considered juveniles.
[85] So that was part of the problem.
[86] And then they wrote laws that said, you know, again, hey, we understand you've committed murder, we understand you committed rape.
[87] Because you did this under the age of 26, we will let you be eligible for early release.
[88] Again, we're talking about murders and rapists.
[89] We're not talking about people who steal guns.
[90] and who walk on a red light.
[91] So that's the D .C. Council.
[92] That's part of this.
[93] Then we have a D .C. Attorney General who thinks that juveniles shouldn't be prosecuted.
[94] A couple weeks ago shared, and I quote, he can't be expected to prosecute and arrest his way out of crime in the city.
[95] And I'm thinking, as a lawyer myself, well, if you're not prosecuting, what are you doing?
[96] So that's the second part to this.
[97] Then we have judges who, armed sentencing people.
[98] And by sentences, I'm talking about the murders, the rage, the armed carjacking, major crimes, who are looking at the individuals who are committing this and saying, well, you're just not making smart decisions.
[99] And they're not fully sentencing these individuals.
[100] And that's, by the way, if we even get to the sentence stage, more than one time, the U .S. attorney, who are also attorneys in the area, have not prosecuted cases.
[101] They've dropped cases.
[102] there were multiple gun -related cases in my neighborhood that they just declined to prosecute.
[103] So if I could, you know, give a summary, it's D .C. Council writing laws that helps criminals.
[104] We have a D .C. Attorney General that doesn't seem to know that he should be prosecuting crimes.
[105] You have judges saying, now, now, you're just not making smart decisions.
[106] And a U .S. attorney that's dropping cases and not only is he dropping cases, but, you know, back in 2016, I had to sue him to find out what he was prosecuting.
[107] Because I asked a very simple question that year, how many rapes are you prosecuting?
[108] And I kept getting told, well, we don't know.
[109] I figured, come on, guys.
[110] You know, but you're not sharing.
[111] And when you're not sharing, that tells me you're not prosecuting.
[112] So it is a confluence of events that individuals who commit violent offenses looked at and went, huh, this looks like a great place for us to commit crime because we won't be held accountable.
[113] Now, I want to talk about car theft.
[114] It's up 82 percent.
[115] And it's predominantly being perpetrated by young people.
[116] First off, what is the age range of people that are engaging in this?
[117] And why is it such an appealing crime for those young kids?
[118] Okay.
[119] So let's talk about carjacking thefts.
[120] So there were 148 in 2018.
[121] Then we jumped to 485 in 2022 and 959 in 2023.
[122] So again, 148 in 2018, and by 2020, were 959.
[123] Wow.
[124] Why?
[125] Because we have prosecutors that aren't prosecuting.
[126] We have a D .C. Attorney General that thinks he shouldn't be prosecuting juveniles.
[127] He's diverting cases.
[128] And we have a U .S. attorney that's not prosecuting and giving no excuses.
[129] He's just not prosecuting.
[130] Now, recently, he said that he's devoting more resources.
[131] And my thought was, well, congratulations.
[132] Why didn't you think it was important after 485 carjackings in 22, why do we have to go up to 959 in 2023 before you devoted more resources to this problem?
[133] Now, when you see numbers grow that rapidly, it kind of makes you think of a professional crime ring, or is this just kids knowing they can get away with it?
[134] Both.
[135] Be honest with you.
[136] It's both.
[137] When you're telling a juvenile, and when we're talking about carjacking, we're not talking 18 -year -olds, we're talking 12, 13, 14, 15 -year -olds, that they can go in carjack and nothing's going to be done, then they're just going to do it again.
[138] I mean, I'm a mom with two kids and I'm very, you know, wise to their ways.
[139] And if you don't hold them accountable, if you don't tell them what the line looks like, then they're going to cross right over it.
[140] And that's what's happening is we have DC juveniles that are being told by adults that their brains haven't been developed.
[141] And because they haven't been developed, then we're not holding them accountable.
[142] And I'm going to push back on that thought process because I think a 10 -year -old old, a 12 -year -old, a 14 -year -old who steals a car and carjacks knows what he or she's doing.
[143] They're just laughing all the way to the bank about the adults who are saying that they're not old enough to understand.
[144] Now, 900 carjackings, is that enough that the average citizen who owns a car in D .C. is actively concerned, or has it not reached that point yet?
[145] Oh, we're there.
[146] We're there.
[147] You can't go anywhere in D .C. without somebody talking about carjackings.
[148] Go out of church.
[149] Carjackings.
[150] Have dinner with friends.
[151] Talk about carjackings.
[152] Drop your kid off at school.
[153] Let's talk about carjackings.
[154] I learned about Mike Gill's death Saturday night when I had the MPD helicopter flying above my head because there were two armed carjackings in my neighborhood Saturday night.
[155] It's a regular occurrence.
[156] So D .C. is unlike other cities and that their laws come under federal jurisdiction.
[157] How does that affect the police's ability to police?
[158] It doesn't.
[159] It's, it's, it's It's not the feds that are impeding the police.
[160] It's the D .C. Council.
[161] The D .C. Council has made it very well known that they don't support impede.
[162] So if you are a young man or woman who's interested in going in the police, why would you come to a city where the D .C. Council doesn't like the institution you want to join?
[163] And if you are in for 15 and 20 years and you are seeing your budgets cut and you're being asked to work overtime, which means that you're not spending time with their family because the D .C. Council cut the budget and it is hobbling your institution.
[164] Why do you stay?
[165] It's not federal law that's hurting the police.
[166] It's the D .C. Council and the lack of support that they've given the police over the past 10, 15 years.
[167] Now, how much support does the city council get from voters in the city?
[168] I understand you mentioned that you're a Democrat.
[169] D .C. is one of our bluest cities.
[170] Would you say the average voter feels the same as you, or would you say it's pretty mixed.
[171] Mixed, but I think beginning to be more like me, more and more people are becoming victims of crime.
[172] So when you, you know, I'm going to do some rough math here.
[173] So if you're at 270 more homicides, 3 ,470 robberies, 6 ,829 car thefts, 959 carjerkings, gosh, that's going to put us up at a, we'll go for about 11 ,000 crimes.
[174] We're talking about, and just those four, we get to 11 ,000.
[175] That means everybody knows somebody.
[176] This isn't somebody that you don't know, somebody you haven't heard of.
[177] This is your next door neighbor.
[178] This is somebody you go to work with.
[179] This is somebody you go to church with.
[180] It's hitting everyone.
[181] That's when more and more people are talking about it.
[182] And quite frankly, that's why there are recall efforts against Charles Allen here in Ward 6.
[183] Democrats are now taking on their own and recalling them.
[184] Now, for listeners who aren't in D .C., who is Charles Allen?
[185] Charles Allen is the councilman before here in Ward 6, Capitol Hill.
[186] And up until last year, he was chair of the D .C. Council Judiciary Committee, and he was the one that led the efforts to weaken laws dealing with crime here in D .C. He's the one that said, it's okay, you can commit rape and murder and still be eligible to come out after 15 years.
[187] So neighbors are fed up, and they've started a recall effort.
[188] So there's a strong possibility.
[189] that at the end of this year, Charles Allen will not have a job because Democrats are upset with him.
[190] It's not Republicans.
[191] It's Democrats.
[192] Yeah.
[193] All right.
[194] Well, Denise, thank you so much for coming on and thank you for all the work you're doing.
[195] You're welcome.
[196] And can I just make one last statement?
[197] Sure.
[198] Rape is a crime.
[199] And I had to be that blunt, but rape is a crime.
[200] It's not being prosecuted in Washington, D .C. And we have a D .C. Council that is actively helping rapists.
[201] That was Denise Rucker Krep, attorney and former D .C. Neighborhood Commissioner.
[202] And this has been an extra edition of Morning Wire.