Last night there was a shooting at the intersection of 7th and N St, NW. This is just steps away from the Mt. Vernon Square Metro station. A DC Alert message reported the incident as occurring at 7:11 PM, and a lookout was issued for a black pickup truck. According to MPD, a female victim was taken to an area hospital in stable condition.

The shooting comes on the heels of Councilmember Jim Graham's (D-Ward 1) declaration that a gang war is underway in Shaw.

Last week Graham sent out a letter to constituents as well as Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier. The letter mostly touts Graham's accomplishments with anti-crime measures, but also calls on better coordination of anti-gang operations within MPD.

Graham's letter discusses the problem of crime that crosses police service areas and districts. The trend of shootings in Shaw have mostly been limited to the area around 5th to 7th Streets, and M to P Street. The bulk of these shootings are squarely within MPD's police service area 308.

A few months ago, the blog The Other 35 Percent, posted a map of shootings and reports of shots fired. The map included data from July to August, gathered from reports on the Third District Listserve. Also included were reports of shots fired from MPD's Shotspotter listening devices. The commentary that accompanied the map discussed many of the problems facing residents in Shaw. This includes vacant and untended property, a lack of vibrant retail, and neglected infrastructure.

From June 1 until now, there has been one homicide in PSA 308. This is a decline of 67% over the same period last year. However, there have been 8 gun assaults. This is an increase of 167% over the the same time in 2008. To be fair, a 167% increase means a jump from 3 to 8.

Is this a problem? Yes, of course it is. Could there be trouble between gangs brewing? It's a possibility. However, considering the vast majority of these crimes occurred within Ward 2, it may not be prudent to take Councilmember Graham's word on it. Graham concludes his letter to Lanier and others with making a push for the previously defeated anti-gang measures. The Council rejected the 'civil penalty' provisions in a 9-4 vote back in June.

The defeated measure would have made it easier for law enforcement to detain suspected gang members, and would have allowed prosecutors to seek injunctions against perceived 'gang activity.' Law enforcement officials, including Lanier, favored the measures. Civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, came out against the proposal. Many DC Councilmembers expressed concerns that the measures would lead to racial profiling.

Those in favor, including Graham, Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) said residents in Northwest have been living in fear. Bowser even said that some constituents were afraid to leave their homes. The fear was, of course, that during the summer gang violence would only increase. Said Evans, "if we do nothing, then we are responsible for what happens."

Overall, since June, violent crime in the District has been down 7% over 2008. Homicides are down 29% Gun assaults are down 7%. Cathy Lanier has touted the drop in violent crime and attributed it to new techniques implemented by the department.

Yes, there has been a recent increase in gun assaults in Shaw. However, it's not immediately clear that it is a gang war, or that it has anything to do with police district boundary problems. It is typical Jim Graham politics to use anything that might look like a "crime wave" to tout his own agenda. Graham talks about the Blueprint for Action, which is a glorified to-do list aimed at making yet another to-do list. Is the civil-penalty gang legislation worth investigating further? Likely not. It was defeated by a large margin in June, and it is still just a band-aid for larger problems. Attempting to prevent gang members from congregating at a corner store by threatening contempt of court charges is at best a backwards way of stopping crime. At worst it will breed racial profiling and make a mockery of the entire concept of contempt of court.

Instead, there needs to be a concerted effort at the community level to discourage gang activity. This has been said time and again, of course, and programs have been attempted to get at the heart of the problem. Organizations such as the Peaceoholics are great in theory, but like many other government funded non-profits, it has faced charges of waste and gone through scandal. It is imperative that these efforts be sustained, however. There are laws on the books regarding gun assaults, homicide, and drug dealing. The root of the problem has nothing to do with a lack of laws or a lack of law enforcement. It has to do with 'bigger picture' problems. It has to do with the problems that don't make a sexy backdrop for a press conference. It's time to start working on the hard problems. After all, Councilmembers are paid handsomely and have budgets to employ support staff.
 
Photo from Flickr user rjs1322, used under a Creative Commons license.