Business trade groups demand ‘immediate action’ by D.C. officials to halt violent crime

Dozens of business trade groups have called on D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council to crack down on violent crimes committed by repeat offenders in the nation’s capital.

Led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 70 national groups with offices in the District urged the mayor and lawmakers Thursday in a letter to address “this pressing issue that threatens the safety and prosperity of not only our community but also our employees and their families.”

“The City Council should take immediate action to target the small group of organized and repeat criminals responsible for most of these violent offenses,” the groups wrote.

The National Retail Federation, American Bankers Association and American Public Transportation Association also signed the letter. So did trade groups representing the airline, hotel, clothing, travel, grocery, manufacturing and life insurance industries.

They wrote that “Washington, D.C., is quickly becoming a national outlier in rising crime” due to recent surges in carjackings, homicides and random acts of violence.

The letter pointed to several high-profile recent examples — including the shooting death last month of Mike Gill, a local business leader and former Trump administration official, during a carjacking on K Street.

The Chamber of Commerce confirmed Monday that its member Drew Maloney, president of the American Investment Council and a friend of Gill’s, spearheaded the letter after his death.

“The problem will not be solved without collective action, which is why the U.S. Chamber joined Drew Maloney and downtown businesses to signal to the D.C. government that change is needed to address crime and keep the city safe,” Tom Wickham, a senior vice president at the business lobbying group, said in a statement to The Washington Times.

The letter pointed to police statistics showing that homicide rates in the District increased by 35% from 2022 to 2023 while dropping by more than 10% in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Phoenix over the same period.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department data cited in the letter, armed robberies in the District jumped by 70% from 2022 to 2023 while overall violent crimes increased by 39%. Carjackings more than doubled over the same period, hitting 950 last year.

The letter referenced a study from the MPD and National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform that found repeat crimes among as few as “200 individuals” have driven the recent explosion in gun-related violence.

Besides Gill’s death, the letter noted several high-profile incidents that it said threatened to restore the District’s reputation as the nation’s “murder capital” in the 1980s and ’90s:

• Vivek Teneja, the CEO of a local tech company that the federal government has contracted for cybersecurity services, died last month after a man assaulted him a few blocks from the White House. As of Monday, police were still searching for the attacker.

• Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat, survived a carjacking on Capitol Hill last fall.

• Teenagers killed Lyft driver Nasrat Ahmad Yar, a father of four and former translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, during an attempted carjacking after he completed a late-night trip in Northeast last summer. (On Friday, D.C. police announced the arrest of a 15-year-old boy on first-degree murder charges for the shooting.)

• Arianna Davis, 10, was killed by a stray bullet while riding in a car with her family on Mother’s Day last year.

• On Valentine’s Day last month, a shooter wounded three police officers in Southeast.

• Police arrested a man on charges of committing six armed robberies at a single Chinatown Walgreens location over the past six months.

The letter also warned that the potential move of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards from their shared Chinatown arena to a new site in Northern Virginia “threatens to further accelerate a rapid decline for downtown D.C. that will only exacerbate violent crime.”

The Times has reached out to Mayor Bowser and members of the D.C. Council for comment.

The letter comes as tensions have risen between federal officials and the D.C. government.

Last March, President Biden signed a GOP-led congressional resolution overturning a D.C. crime bill that would have reduced the maximum penalty for certain crimes, including carjackings.

The D.C. Council is preparing for a second vote Tuesday on “Secure DC,” a retooled crime bill that would expand temporary drug-free zones, restore pre-pandemic prohibitions against wearing ski masks and allow police to engage in car chases to catch dangerous suspects.

Council member Brooke Pinto, the Ward 2 Democrat who chairs the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, introduced the legislation in January. Ms. Bowser endorsed it at that time.

“In 2023, we saw pieces of this legislation move our city in the right direction,” Ms. Bowser said. “Now we can make those provisions permanent and focus on strategies and policies that will continue to make our city safer.”

In Thursday’s letter, the business groups acknowledged the vote and expressed a willingness to collaborate with the council “to ensure the implementation of effective measures to reduce crime and enhance the overall safety of our city.”

“Our organizations are committed to bringing our employees back to work in our physical office locations downtown and across the District, which will contribute to the city’s tax base and give a boost to the local economy,” the letter stated. “Together, we can create an environment that fosters economic growth, prosperity, and security for all.”