Washington Post editorial blasts DC crime policies for making it harder to catch carjackers

The Washington Post editorial board criticized Washington, D.C.’s new "too restrictive" police pursuit policies that residents claim are allowing carjackers to get away with their crimes at higher rate than ever before.

The piece declared that D.C.’s new effective ban on police chases "went too far" and as a result carjacking in the nation’s capital has doubled since last year.

The board began its piece with the example of the misfortune of D.C. resident Stephanie Traub, who was carjacked at gunpoint only an hour after Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, suffered that same fate in the same city.

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"Ms. Traub was driving home from a pinball league. She parked a block from her home about a mile east of the U.S. Capitol. She had never feared for her safety before, but something felt off when she exited her vehicle and heard another car door slam nearby. Then the gun was in her face," the board wrote. 

After she called the police and they arrived at the scene, they told her "’We can’t pursue,’" the piece recounted. Elsewhere in the editorial, the board explained that "The District had effectively banned police chases earlier this year, as part of a national trend in recent years to prevent often fatal pursuit-related crashes."

"But D.C’s ban went too far," it wrote. 

The board explained just how prevalent the carjacking issue has become in the country, particularly in D.C., a city where the "crime has become common." The piece revealed, "There have been 827 carjackings in the city so far this year (through Oct. 29). At this point of the year, the District has doubled last year’s number and has six times as many as in 2019." 

It added, "The worst place in the city for carjackings is the D.C. police department’s 6th District, east of the Anacostia River. The second-worst is the 1st District, around the Capitol, where the carjackings against both Ms. Traub and Mr. Cuellar occurred."

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The carjacking epidemic has become so bad, that "the D.C. Council passed emergency legislation this summer to adopt a slightly more permissive standard for police pursuits," though The Post argued the standard is still not good enough. 

"The new policy, which was in place the night Ms. Traub was carjacked, permits police to chase when there is an ‘imminent threat’ to others, there is a low likelihood of anyone else getting hurt and police can apprehend quickly," the piece stated, adding, "Yet if this policy rules out pursuing the perpetrator in Ms. Traub’s case (either by car or by helicopter), it and those like it in other cities are still too restrictive."

The Post claimed that what happened to Traub shows that "D.C.’s policy is still out of balance," as it occurred at a time "when the streets are relatively empty in much of the city," that police knew "exactly where the robber was," and still they were not authorized to aggressively pursue the perpetrator. 

The piece featured a quote from D.C. Metro Police spokesperson Paris Lewbel who admitted that D.C.’s vehicle pursuit policy is "amongst the most limited in the country." The Post board also quoted D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser who recently called for reforms to the city’s pursuit policy, stating that cops should be "allowed to safely chase a criminal who is right in front of them."

The board concluded, "No single tool will prevent all carjackings, but the number of victims will keep rising if police can’t pursue criminals when the risk of doing so would be low."

Members of the D.C. Council did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

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