D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says she understands why some District leaders are sounding the alarm over crime, but she is noncommittal about a proposal to call in the National Guard.
The mayor, back Monday from a weeklong vacation, said she plans to confer with Councilmember Trayon White, who last week said the visible presence of armed guardsmen on the streets is needed in a city that has become a “warzone” of holdups, carjackings and shootings.
The mayor, speaking to reporters at a back-to-school event, offered no comment on whether she would take up Mr. White’s proposal with federal partners. But she indicated a willingness to discuss the idea with the councilmember.
“I, of course, share his concern about safety in neighborhoods in Ward 8 and throughout the District, and how we best deploy our resources to keep the community safe,” Ms. Bowser said.
Deploying the D.C. National Guard would require the cooperation of the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the White House. The president ultimately determines if the military units are activated.
Mr. White called for the National Guard at an impassioned press conference last week near the scene of an Aug. 5 shooting in Southeast that left 3 dead.
The mayhem near the corner of 16th Street and Good Hope Road was the latest spasm of violence in a city that has seen crime surge across several categories this year.
Metropolitan Police report 164 homicides in the nation’s capital through Tuesday, a 25% increase from this point in 2022.
Violent crime is up 37% year-over-year, with every serious offense — from carjackings and robberies to sexual assaults and weapons assaults — showing increases as well.
The city is on track to see its third straight year of at least 200 homicides, a milestone that hasn’t been reached in two decades.
Councilmember White said his ideal deployment would include an armed, uniformed military presence patrolling the streets.
He added that it should be similar to what he saw growing up on the streets of Southeast in the 1980s and 90s.
“[Acting] Police Chief [Pamela] Smith stated that we are not in a warzone,” Mr. White said at his Aug. 8 press conference. “I know those who live here, know that we are clearly in a warzone.”
“We know that officers who have a handgun can’t combat three people with AR-15s and AK-47s shooting down the street, because [police] simply have to get home to their families as well,” Mr. White said.
But the lengthy National Guard deployment roughly three decades ago provided more technical assistance than it did in directly fighting crime.
Roughly two dozen guardsmen were active in the city beginning in 1990, with the troops helping repair police cruisers, setting up roadblocks and setting up street lights for the Metro Orange Coalition, the orange hat-wearing community safety patrols who walked crime-ridden neighborhoods.
News reports said the soldiers were involved in the city’s public safety apparatus as late as 1997. While the soldiers were in uniform, none of the reports mentioned the troops being armed.
D.C. residents at the time wanted the National Guard to take a more aggressive role amid the District’s growing crime crisis.
Residents called on former D.C. Mayor Marion Berry to request the guard in 1988 as the city saw spikes in homicides, largely driven by the burgeoning crack-cocaine trade. Slayings jumped from 245 in 1987 to 380 a year later, but Berry downplayed concerns over crime, saying “The city is not out of control.”
As the violence reached a crescendo in the early 90s — homicides peaked at 509 in 1991 — then-D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly in 1993 requested President Bill Clinton allow her to call in a more robust National Guard deployment. Mr. Clinton rejected her request.
“We can’t do anything about it. We need military help,” Ms. Kelly said in an interview with local Fox affiliate WTTG at the time, according to video archives retrieved by the station. “I’m the Chief Executive of the District of Columbia. I have a responsibility to provide for the public safety of our citizens and our use [sic] whatever means at my disposal, I’ll call upon whatever federal assistance is available.”
Mayor Bowser said Monday she “wasn’t prepared to talk about 1993” or the conditions that motivated former Mayor Kelly to seek the National Guard deployment.
Mr. White’s colleagues on the D.C. Council voiced opposition to the Ward 8 Democrat’s calls for a military presence on the city’s streets, saying that the National Guard is a poor fit to address the District’s crime problems.
“The National Guard is not trained for ordinary law enforcement and police duties,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson told The Washington Times in a statement. “When the National Guard has been called out, it’s typically been for crowd control and mass demonstrations or things like the January 6th insurrection. Calling the National Guard suggests that the Army is better than police for fighting local crime. We should be focusing on giving MPD the resources they need.”
At-large Councilmember Robert White, who is not related to Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, agreed with the council chairman. He also acknowledged the urge to request the guard reveals the frayed nerves many District residents have from the senseless, often random, violence taking place throughout the city.
“The calls for the National Guard stem from a real feeling of terror among many residents,” Mr. White told The Times in a statement. “I believe we can achieve the presence and security residents are crying out for without bringing in militarized force.”
The councilmember added that MPD should concentrate police on “violent hot spots” in the short term.
A more lasting remedy to the bloodshed, he said, would come from the local government’s collaboration with businesses, families, faith leaders and police to “heal from generations of violence.”
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