Part of DC’s answer to murder spike doesn’t involve police.
With 160 murders in 2018 and a violent start to the new year, leaders in the District are focused on non-policing efforts to reduce violence.
The Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement was opened by Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2017. Many programs have since been developed focusing on mental health, education and job opportunities.
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Del McFadden, Executive Director of the office said, “It’s very important we’re able to deal with the causation, some of the root problems. That’s what this office is about, a public health approach to reach some of our most vulnerable residents.”
One of the programs focused on going directly to those in need involve what’s called the “violence interrupters.” They’re on the front lines, talking and listening to those who might be close to pulling the trigger.
"I call that the jungle out there. Yeah, the jungle. Everybody out there trying to survive the best way they can,” said Duane Cunningham, one of more than a dozen violence interrupters.
Duane knows what it's like. He was a drug dealer and spent time in prison.
He told WUSA 9’s Lorenzo Hall, police can't solve DC's murder problem because it's much deeper.
People need help, he said. Especially young black men.
“The mother don't have a job or she on drugs. The father not there. That kid has to fend on his own. What else is he going to do? He don't know nothing. He don't go to school. We get mad at the kid because they don't go to school, but he's tired of wearing the same clothes every day. He's going to be joaned on every day. He ain't got no soap in the house to wash up,” said Cunningham.
During a press conference Monday afternoon, Mayor Bowser indicated, the city wouldn’t be changing its strategy to combat violence extensively. The DC police department is moving some of its resources to have a greater presence in some of the most violent neighborhoods.
However, no matter how much help is being offered, Cunningham said it's often tough to get through to some people when they're taught never to trust anyone, including police and the government.
“It's hard to trust people out here right now because everybody basically using somebody for something,” said Cunningham.
Numbers will never show how many violent crimes Duane and his team have prevented so far.