DC police chief says average homicide suspect has ELEVEN prior arrests before ... trends now
The Washington DC Police Chief has slammed lenient law enforcement tactics for allowing the nation's capital to be plagued by violent criminals.
Robert Contee revealed that the average homicide suspect has a shocking eleven prior arrests before they commit a murder.
'What we've got to do, if we really want to see homicides go down, is keep bad guys with guns in jail,' he said.
'When they're in jail, they can't be in communities shooting people.'
Contee made the declaration while speaking alongside DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, after a reporter asked him how cops plan to stamp out a recent crime wave sweeping the nation's capital.
The Washington DC Police Chief has addressed the recent spike in crimes in the nation's capital, including a 300 percent rise in arson and 34 percent rise in homicides. Pictured: Washington Metropolitan Police investigate near the Supreme Court and Capitol, October 19, 2022
Contee's comments come amid a spate of violent offenses being perpetrated across the US in recent months by criminals with lengthy rap sheets.
Faced with questions over why violent thugs are running rampant on the nation's streets, the police chief had a straightforward solution.
'We need to keep violent people in jail,' he said.
'When people talk about what we're gonna do different, or what we should do different, what we need to do different, that's the thing that we need to do different.'
The nation's capital has become a crime hotspot in recent months, with official statistics showing a 34 percent rise in homicide rates since last year.
Cases of arson have skyrocketed a shocking 300 percent this year, sex abuse crimes are up 120 percent, and motor vehicle theft is up 110 percent.
Last month, DC's failure to crack down on repeat offenders was on full display after Congresswoman Angie Craig was attacked in her apartment building.
The Minesota Democrat was assaulted by serial criminal Kendrick Hamlin, who was free despite a criminal record that included 13 prior assaults.
'I got attacked by someone who the District of Columbia has not prosecuted fully over the course of almost a decade, over the course of 12 assaults before mine that morning,' Craig said at the time.
'I mean, it wasn’t even in every instance that he got 10 days or 30 days. Many times, the charges were completely dropped before any justice
