WASHINGTON — With the Hillcrest community reeling from a recent spike in crime, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Police Chief Peter Newsham and area residents convened on Saturday to find ways to counter the trend.
“It’s been an active week,” said Jamila Newsham, who lives in the area. “It’s starting to get a little uneasy.”
On Monday, a man was killed just a block from a church and a school, placing the school on lockdown. On, Wednesday, a pregnant woman was held at gunpoint for fifteen minutes.
“People are uncomfortable,” said Villareal Johnson.
Officials tried to reassure neighbors by informing them the city was hiring more police officers, and that residents should immediately begin to see more of a law enforcement presence in their neighborhood. There was also talk to provide incentives to officers to live in the communities they’re protecting—currently only about 16% of the police force lives in the District.
“We want to get our police department to a place where we can have more visible police officers out there,” said Newsham.
But the meeting was also about preventing crime before it even happens, so the conversation quickly turned to education.
A lot of crime in the district is driven by people who just don't have other economic opportunity," said mayor Bowser.
Residents confronted the mayor about the lack of resources available for middle schools in the neighborhood, telling the mayor she's "known for a long time" about the problem.
"We love our neighborhood. But unfortunately if you're a ward 7 and ward 8 member of this city, we're the stepchildren," said resident Jay Keegan.
"Choices about middle schools are complicated," responded the mayor, adding she would look into solutions, and not ruling out possibly changing the way schools are funded.
Many said they were pleased with the mayor’s answers, but vowed to fighting for their community if no progress was made.
"There are a lot of good programs that they're thinking about," said Houser. "They recognize that it's an issue."
"The squeaky wheel gets the grease, right? So we just gotta talk it up. We just gotta keep talking it up," said Johnson