After Virginia Woman’s Murder in DC, State Attorney General Urges Capital Leaders to Tackle ‘Scourge of Violent Crime’

D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department and D.C. Metropolitan Police investigate a criminal offense in Washington on April 6, 2020. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Following the fatal stabbing of a woman in D.C., Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has urged D.C. city leaders to address violent crime that he says is a result of the capital’s lax law enforcement.

“It has become painfully apparent that Washington, D.C., can protect neither its residents nor the thousands of Virginians who commute daily to the city for work or entertainment,” Miyares said in the letter to D.C. City Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser (pdf).

Miyares’ letter comes after the death of 31-year-old Christy Bautista, who was killed in a D.C. hotel room on March 31 by a homeless man, George Sydnor Jr. According to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Sydnor had a prior criminal record and a warrant for his arrest.

“There is no deterrent for illegal behavior in Washington, D.C., as these repeat offenders know they will either not be charged or let back on the streets in no time. That’s why we lost Christy Bautista,” Miyares said.

“D.C.’s lenient policies and perspectives are responsible for her murderer’s release when he should have been in custody. An innocent woman lost her life to someone who should have been in jail.”

The U.S. capital should be a symbol of freedom and home for the world, said Miyares,  not a place infamous for crime and murder.

“I urge the city’s leadership to address the scourge of violent crime that is growing more intolerable by the day,” he said.

In addition to Bautista, there have been a number of high-profile attacks in D.C. One included Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), who was attacked by a man in her apartment building elevator. The assailant also had a previous criminal record, with 25 bench warrants, according to CBS Minnesota.

‘No Crime Crisis’

Chairman of D.C. City Council Phil Mendelson recently told a House committee on government oversight and accountability that there is no crime crisis in the capitol.

“I know this belies the common belief and when it comes to crime, how people feel is important, but there is not a crime crisis in Washington D.C.,” said Mendelson during the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on March 29.

“Let me be clear, people should feel safe, and it is a problem that many residents of the district don’t. But the number of violent crime incidents in 2022 was 45 percent lower than a decade earlier.”

During the same hearing, Greggory Pemberton, chairman D.C. Police Union, criticized D.C. City Council’s anti-police “rhetoric” and subsequent police reform measures.

Since 2020, MPD has had a mass exodus of 1,200 officers while replacing only 700, which Pemberton said is largely the result of D.C. City Council’s “misguided” anti-police reform legislation, particularly D.C.’s Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022 (D.C. Act 24-370).

D.C. Act 24-370 would require that police body-cam footage be released publicly in use-of-force incidents, prohibit most neck restraints, create a database of police discipline files that would be available for open-records requests, and make it easier to fire police officers.

A “Defund the Police” sign during a protest near the White House following the May 25 death of George Floyd in police custody, in Washington on June 6, 2020. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

But Mendelson said the police reform laws are not an attack on policing or a threat to public safety.

“Rather, it promotes police accountability by codifying our use of force Review Board, enhancing auditing capabilities, strengthening training requirements, and prohibiting the hiring of officers with a history of misconduct,” Mendelson said.

Meanwhile, Pemberton said the council’s legislation undermines the MPD’s ability to do their job and makes it extremely difficult to recruit new hires for D.C. police, which in turn has added to a surge in crime.

“Over the past six years of plummeting numbers of police, homicides have increased 75 percent, armed carjackings have increased 227 percent, armed robberies have increased 46percent, and most tragic and alarming, is that last year alone the juvenile homicide rate doubled,” he said.

Pemberton said that the police union wants Congress to pass H.J. Res.42, which would nullify D.C.’s Act 24-370.