WASHINGTON — Two candidates running for D.C. Mayor unveiled their crime initiatives on Thursday.
The current mayor, Muriel Bowser, who is seeking a third term in office, and her challenger, D.C. Councilmember Robert White, have one common theme in their crime plans: jobs.
“I can’t hire 347 new officers if you take away the tools, I need to do it!” the mayor said, in response to the D.C. Council Judiciary Committee’s vote to limit her spending proposal.
Bowser proposed a $30 Million budget package to hire 347 police officers this year and incentives to retain at least 300 more. According to a tweet Thursday from Judiciary Committee Chairman Councilmember Charles Allen, the committee approved the money for recruiting bonuses for officers but struck down a deal for take home police cruisers.
“To hire the 347, I need the money and positions and incentives to compete with other jurisdictions and what they’re doing to recruit officers,” Bowser said. “[T]o keep 300, I need incentives to keep the mid-level career officers. So, you can’t say you’re for police hiring if you’re not moving the package.”
White said the District simply can't afford to wait to combat crime until more officers are hired.
“Unfortunately, the Mayor’s only answer to crime has been police and police are a part of our public safety response but more police, is not a plan,” he said.
At a community garden campaign event Thursday at Dix Street in Northeast, White unveiled his crime initiative: working with labor unions to give a job to anyone who needs it.
“Violent crime comes when people have nothing to lose,” White said. “When we start people on a career path, they don’t even have to be well into a career when we start them on a career path, they realize they have something to lose.”
White said that his Climate Jobs Guarantee program involves working outdoors and is aimed at addressing climate change. Employees will train to be arborists or traffic engineers. The price tag for 10,000 new government jobs is an estimated $1.5 billion.
“Which is only slightly more than our annual average budget increase. So, this is something when you have a mayor who is forward-thinking and proactive plans for those revenue increases — what to do with them ahead of time, as opposed to throwing a bit of money everywhere and not solving problems,” said White.
WUSA9 contacted White’s campaign to learn more about his crime plan if elected mayor, but did not receive a response by the time this story was published.