With murders at the highest rate in years, the nation’s capital may soon not even send police officers to investigate property crimes, instead sending civilians with no badge or gun.
A majority of the Washington, D.C., city council has signed on to a bill that would allow “civilian investigators” to handle crimes like theft because police are so overwhelmed with active violent crimes. The council’s chairman Phil Mendelson said in a letter that his bill, the “Evidence-Based Gun Violence Reduction and Prevention Act of 2023,” is modeled after Baltimore and San Francisco, which he claims “have adopted successful initiatives like this.”
The bill, which has the support of seven of the council’s twelve members, says “The Metropolitan Police Department is hereby authorized to employ and allow civilian personnel to investigate the following types of incidents when there is…
