This is a very important question because if you read the weekly DC (by district) crime report ( Wash. Post, every Thursday), you can see the crime patterns by neighborhood, number of people involved, whether masks were worn (last week, major numbers of them), and the times when the crimes were reported (too many people walking down dark alleys in the A.M. Just walking “ducks” for those who know the area and where to attack.
A better idea would be to put police-sanctioned secret surveillance cameras either/or - inside the stores that sell face masks, just outside the door to record who went in/came out with a purchase (for future identification if a known gang member), and across the street to record any car license plates of the cars used by suspected or known gang members.
Most group robberies, 3 or more, are committed on foot and the robbers run away. Only a few get into a waiting car, but there are enough such incidents to justify matching mask-store photos of cars with those reportedly used in street robberies.
Last week 25 guns (or more) were reported as used in street crimes in DC, 3 knives and 2 possible guns/objects. Getting the gangs off the streets and into jail will get the majority of the illegal guns off the street and save lives.
However, DC politicians, among the most morally, intellectually and criminally corrupt in the nation, are against gun ownership, i.e. leaving the majority of the crime victims (black people), helpless to defend themselves in their homes, on the street, or even in their car (lots of carjackings by 2-3 individuals who also have a getaway car).
Well thought-out surveillance cameras, intelligently placed, can greatly help to reduce crime in targetted high-crime areas. Some DC police know this and want it. Too often the brass is a bunch of liberals who want to have tea with the gangs to ask them to stop their criminal activities (aka Hillary Clinton and the jihadists of Ben Ghazi).
None of what I advocate or support here is new. It has been around for decades (I got my AA Certificate in Police Science in 1981). What is lacking is police leadership to use both new and old technology properly, and to get the prosecutors to really prosecute, not plea bargain in serious case.
One DC murder suspect was let out on bail with a GSP bracelet yet he managed to kill another person recently and wound two. That’s the “D.C. Way” to handle violent, charged suspects.
No wonder the streets of DC are so unsafe in many areas. The criminal justice system and the political system are more friendly to the criminal than their victims.
This has got to change, now!
“Well thought-out”
Well, that lets DC out...
Having moved into the DC region three years ago....I can offer a couple of suggestions.
First, put twenty-five cops out in undercover from 8PM on, and only in the eastern part of DC. Figure at least twenty arrests a week on drug and robbery charges.
Second, publish the charge and conviction records of the district’s da’s. Let the public know that some of these guys are total losers in court.....rarely convicting anyone.
Third, treat all punks fifteen and over....as adults. Let them spend hard time in local jail for stupid crimes, and publish their pictures in the local paper.
The truth is...no voters in the city want any real results. They enjoy the crime, and can’t accept anything less than what they have currently.