With a flood of visitors and tourists expected, officials in the nation’s capital are mobilizing additional police officers and dozens of teams of civilian peacekeepers in an attempt to keep rising violent crime rates from marring the holiday weekend
With a flood of visitors and tourists expected, officials in the nation’s capital are mobilizing additional police officers and dozens of teams of civilian peacekeepers in an attempt to keep rising violent crime rates from marring the holiday weekend.
“The safety of our residents and visitors is MPD’s number one priority,” said Ashan Benedict, interim police chief for the Metropolitan Police Department. “Unsafe and illegal behaviors will not be tolerated in the District of Columbia.”
Benedict said the MPD will be deploying a “very, very robust“ contingent of officers but didn’t mention specific numbers. “We’ll have a lot of officers out there,” he said.
Events for visitors and residents include the Independence Day Parade on Constitution Avenue and the annual Capital Fourth concert on the National Mall followed by a fireworks display. A smaller local parade will take place in northwest D.C. and the local government is sponsoring a concert featuring Washington’s signature Go-Go music at Freedom Plaza near the White House.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s government has been struggling to handle steadily rising violent crime rates in recent years. Although police and city officials point out that overall crime rates have dropped, murders and carjackings have spiked — creating an overall public perception that crime is getting worse.
