Crime Measures Derided as Too Little, Too Late

Deputy Mayor Brenda Donald Walker said the District spends $2.2 billion annually on children's welfare and needs to do more. (Photos By James M. Thresher -- The Washington Post)

Shanda Smith has lost two children to these problems. In 1993, her 19-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter were gunned down as they drove to a church Christmas party in Southeast. Police blamed it on mistaken identity.

Smith, whose two surviving sons are teenagers, welcomes the current attention to crime in the city but shares a widespread belief that it may be a fleeting reaction to the killing of Alan Senitt, a 27-year-old British citizen. He was white; the other 13 homicide victims preceding him this month were black.

"There should have been a crime emergency a long time ago," said Smith, a member of Moms Inc. (Mothers on the Move Spiritually), which attempts to strengthen families.

City leaders say they understand the frustrations and are trying to address them.

Brenda Donald Walker, deputy mayor for children, youth, families and elders, said the city spends $2.2 billion annually on children's welfare -- an amount that includes $1.2 billion for public education.

The city hires more than 10,000 youths and young adults, ages 14 to 21, for six-week summer jobs as clerks and lifeguards, park workers and camp counselors. It sponsors a year-round jobs program for 400 young people and a series of day camps.

In a movement toward partnerships with community groups, the city joined with the Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative to address gang violence and prevent children from ending up in foster care. It was so successful, Walker said, that similar efforts have been launched in Wards 7 and 8 to reduce violence and the retaliation that often ensues.

Walker said the city needs to do more and welcomes ideas.

"We get proposals saying, 'Just give me the money, I have the magic formula,' " she said. "But no one has the magic formula to solve these problems."

In the meantime, Walker said, leaders must respond to fears, both real and perceived. Overall crime has declined since 2000, with sexual assault, homicide and assault with a deadly weapon reaching a five-year low last year.

But since January, violent crime in the District is up nearly 7 percent, fueled largely by a surge in robberies.

Residents increasingly consider crime and violence "the biggest problem facing the District." That rate rose from 19 percent in 2000 to 22 percent in 2002 to 38 percent this month, according to a Washington Post poll taken just after the crime emergency was declared.

"When you have high crime rates and fear of crime, people want the government to make the streets safe," Walker said. "They want things that they can see."

Some neighborhoods have been living an emergency for years and still await relief.

At a recent community meeting at Union Temple Baptist Church in Southeast, image after image of black boys and young men were shown, first vibrantly alive, then lying in coffins. All had been shot to death. A nonprofit group called No Murders DC, whose goal is to end homicide in the District, has shown the homemade film throughout the city.

Several dozen people sat in the audience when someone asked for a show of hands from those who knew a murder victim. All but a few hands rose.