Politics du Jour-- Crime Emergency

The WashPost has an article this morning on a new flyer circulated by Linda Cropp highlighting the differences between her and Adrian Fenty (who has a significant lead). In particular she has honed in on his nay vote on the Crime Emergency Bill.

"According to that page, there were 39 assaults from July 16 to 22, up from 25 during the same week in 2005, an increase of 56 percent. In one category of robberies, the site lists 383 incidents from Jan. 1 through July 22, compared with 284 during the same period last year, an increase of 35 percent.

However, the statistics that Cropp offered stopped short of painting a complete picture of the city's crime problem.

For example, the police department released statistics yesterday that said there have been 2,376 robberies this year through yesterday, up 11 percent from the same time last year. Assaults with a deadly weapon increased 2 percent, and sexual assaults are up 16 percent this year compared with last year. There were 13 homicides in the first 11 days of July, although homicides are down 7 percent from the same time a year ago."

While this is politics as usual, is there a valid claim that Fenty is soft on crime for not supporting the emergency crime bill? Do either of the candidates have a real plan to attack crime in the coming years so there will not be the need for emergency bills?