Knowing that violent crime is skyrocketing is one thing. Actually seeing the data is another, jaw-dropping thing altogether:
Surging violent crime this year has spread fear and frustration across the District of Columbia, as police here struggle to curb the bloodshed at a time when many U.S. cities are seeing double-digit declines in homicides.
The district has had 216 homicides this year, 38% more than at this point in 2022 — and more than any full year from 2004 to 2020, police data show. By contrast, killings are down this year in big cities from coast to coast: by 24% in Los Angeles, 19% in Houston, 18% in Philadelphia, 12% in Chicago, and 11% in New York City.
The craziest part of all this, of course, is that you wouldn't want to even set foot in any of those other cities.
New York? Um, no thanks, they're stabbing people in the street over there. Philadelphia? They're breaking into homes and shooting people dead.
Chicago? A day you step outside your door in Chicago and don't get shot is a good day.
But D.C. dwarfs them all. Murders are up almost 40% more than last year. The city is rapidly sliding into an ungovernable chaos of homicide and violence in a way that's hard to comprehend.
Leaders in D.C. have scrambled to try and beef up law enforcement responses to this crime wave. Maybe they'll succeed, eventually. Maybe.
For now, even the elite in the city aren't safe:
On Monday, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas was carjacked in the city, becoming the second member of Congress this year to experience a violent crime in D.C.
The Swamp looks to be assuming its final (violent) form!
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