The Justice Department announced a boost in resources to tackle the rise of violent crime in Washington, D.C., focusing on measures to combat carjackings.
“Last year, we saw an encouraging decline in violent crime in many parts of the country, but there is much more work to do — including here in the District of Columbia,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release Friday.
Washington, D.C., ended 2023 with a 26% increase in overall crime compared to last year, according to Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia data. That included a 39% increase in violent crime, and carjackings rose for the sixth year in a row, totaling 959 reported incidents.
“This surge in law enforcement resources will build on the Department’s efforts to target the individuals and organizations that are driving violent crime in the nation’s capital,” Garland added. “The Justice Department will not rest until every community in our country is safe from the scourge of violent crime.”
The DOJ will introduce resources such as “a multi-component Gun Violence Analytic Cell (GVAC),” led by the FBI and collaborating with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration. GVAC will use data analytics to sort through federal investigations to deter violent crime and carjackings.
The DOJ added more resources for prosecutors to investigate cases, an effort that was expanded last year.
“We have been surgically targeting and prosecuting those driving violence within our community,” U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for Washington, D.C., said in the press release. “The surge of resources to these efforts will allow us to continue to expand on these efforts and to take even more drivers of violence off our streets.”
In November, Washington residents across certain districts were offered free AirTags and Tiles for their cars by the MPD to make it easier for officers to track down stolen vehicles. Carjackings, a robbery in which the assaulter steals a car from the driver by force or by a threat of force, occur mostly in Northeast Washington, including the neighborhoods of Brentwood, Brookland, Ivy City, Trinidad, Woodridge, and Fort Totten.
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But the incidents are not isolated to those areas — in October, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) was carjacked by three armed people about a mile from the Capitol.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed anti-crime measures following Cuellar’s attack, reviving “anti-loitering” and “drug-free zones” in the city, which would outlaw congregation for five-day spans to reduce the “purchase, sale, or use of illegal drugs.”