D.C. LGBTQ activists call for resilience, advocacy after election

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, along with District Police Chief Pamela Smith and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah, announced a series of enhanced crime prevention and crime reduction programs implemented over the past year. estimated a 35 percent reduction in violent incidents. Crimes in the city over the past year.

Bowser, Smith, and Appiah claimed at a Dec. 9 press conference at the Joint Operations Command Center at the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department’s headquarters that overall crime in the nation’s capital has decreased significantly.

Among other things, city officials displayed slides on large video screens showing that in the past year, overall violent crime has decreased by 35 percent, car robberies have decreased by 48 percent, homicides have decreased by 29 percent and robberies have decreased by 20 percent. It showed a decrease in percentage. There was a 39% decrease, and assaults with dangerous weapons also decreased by 29%.

“I want to start by thanking the police, and I want to thank all the public safety teams, local and federal, and the agencies that support their work,” Bowser said, adding that this year’s improvement in crime data is a collaborative effort. He pointed out that it was due to effort. We are adopting several new programs to fight crime.

Bowser also thanked D.C. City Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-2nd District) for introducing a bill called the Secure DC Act, which the mayor supported and was approved by the City Council in March of this year. The bill includes a wide range of new crime-fighting and prevention initiatives. .

In response to questions from the Washington Blade, Chief Smith said increased crime-fighting efforts have helped D.C. police make arrests in two recent cases involving D.C. gay men who were victims of violent crimes. He said that he believed that he had fulfilled his role.

In one incident, on October 27 of this year, 22-year-old Sebastian Tomas Robles Lascaro, a gay man, was attacked and assaulted by as many as 15 men and women at the DC McDonald’s restaurant at 14 U Street. Ta. Some in the northwest shouted anti-gay slurs. D.C. police listed the incident as a suspected hate crime and arrested a 16-year-old male on suspicion of assault with serious bodily injury in connection with the incident.

The other incident involved the robbery and assault of Brian Smith, 41, a gay DJ and hairstylist, on the same day. Police have not yet established a connection to the robbery, but he suffered a head injury. He died 11 days later, on November 7th. Police subsequently arrested two teenage boys, ages 14 and 16, on suspicion of robbery.

Mr Smith said the police’s Special Liaison Unit, which includes the LGBT Liaison Unit, would continue to investigate hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community.

“So I think what we’re going to do is the same as what we’ve been doing, which is to make sure that reports come in, or reports of incidents come in, and that we make sure that special communications “It’s about making sure our chapters get the word out and engage their communities to prevent these types of hate crimes from increasing across the city,” she said.

Smith added, “We continue to work with our community, working with our members, LGBTQ, and other groups and organizations to make sure we have the right information and that when people see something, they say something.” I will do so,” he added. To share that information with us. ”

Data posted on the D.C. Police Department’s website covers the period from January 1 to October. 31/2024 A total of 132 hate crimes were reported in the District. Of those, 22 were based on the victim’s sexual orientation and 18 were based on the victim’s gender identity or expression.

During the same period, there were 47 reported hate crimes based on the victim’s ethnicity or national origin, 33 based on the victim’s race, and 6 based on the victim’s religion.

According to the data, during the same period in 2023, 36 hate crimes related to sexual orientation and 13 incidents related to gender identity or expression were reported.