It looks like the nation’s capitol can’t even get its own city under control, as the Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser is declaring a public emergency over the ongoing opioid crisis and the rise in youth violence.
“Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a public emergency that will allow DC Government to respond more efficiently and urgently to two separate issues that, since the pandemic, have not only persisted, but worsened: the deadly opioid epidemic and youth violence. Although each of these urgent situations are, to some extent, geographically concentrated, the nature of the two emergencies demands city-wide responses,” the mayor’s office announced on Monday.
“Although each of these urgent situations are, to some extent, geographically concentrated, the nature of the two emergencies demands city-wide responses,” a release from Bowser’s office read.
Recent data show that fatal overdoses involving opioids in the capitol have more than doubled from 213 to 461 between 2018 and 2022. Fentanyl accounted for 96% of these fatal opioid-related overdoses in 2022.
Fentanyl is being smuggled in through the southern border, aided and abetted by Mexican drug cartels and the Chinese.
D.C. agencies, including the Department of Behavioral Health, D.C. Health, and D.C. Fire and EMS, will be obligated to input suspected non-fatal overdoses into a unified data monitoring system in accordance with the emergency declaration. The objective is to enhance responses through the reinforcement of internal information exchange.
Bowser’s office says this will “provide a complete picture of opioid-related fatal and suspected non-fatal overdoses as they occur,” to assist district leaders in identifying hotspots and deploying outreach teams and support for harm reduction there.
Residents of Washington, D.C. have been urging city authorities and the Metropolitan Police Department for months, if not years, to take action regarding juvenile delinquency.
The mayor’s emergency order states that 458 juveniles were arrested for robbery, including carjacking, homicide, and assault with a dangerous weapon, during the first nine months of 2023; this represents a 10% increase from the same period in 2022.
The D.C. Mayor’s public emergency order comes one day after Secret Service agents safeguarding President Joe Biden’s granddaughter Naomi opened fire on three individuals attempting to breach into an unmarked official vehicle in the nation’s capital.
The agents, who were tasked with protecting Naomi Biden, were with her late Sunday night in the Georgetown neighborhood when they observed three individuals smashing a window of the unattended, parked SUV, according to an official.
A Secret Service spokesperson did not identify the protectee, but he stated that agents encountered possibly three individuals shattering a window of a parked and unoccupied government vehicle in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., just before midnight on Sunday.
“During this encounter, a federal agent discharged a service weapon and it is believed no one was struck,” the spokesperson said. “The offenders immediately fled the scene in a red vehicle and a regional lookout was issued to supporting units. There was no threat to any protectees and the incident is being investigated by the DC Metropolitan Police Department and the Secret Service.”
The official spoke to the Associated Press on Monday under the condition of anonymity as he was unable to disclose investigation details publicly.
One of the agents discharged ammunition, but no one was injured, according to a statement from the Secret Service. The three individuals were observed escaping in a red vehicle, and the Secret Service informed Metropolitan Police to issue a regional alert regarding their whereabouts.
According to the crime data, juveniles comprise an astounding 151 arrests for carjackings this year, or approximately one-third of the total. Juveniles constituted 66% of the carjacking arrests as of Monday, according to the carjacking dashboard of the D.C. Police. To date, 863 carjackings have been reported this year.
In addition, the Mayor’s Office reports that 97 juveniles were shot between January and October of this year, 15 of whom were killed, and that five children who were subject to court-ordered electronic monitoring have been murdered in the last five weeks alone.
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