DC law to curb violence has shown mixed results: auditor

A new report from the Office of the D.C. Auditor has found that public health efforts in D.C.’s Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results (NEAR) Act have been implemented but some mandates in the legislation have been ignored.

The NEAR Act was intended to take “a public health approach to criminal justice reform,” but in reviewing the progress since it was enacted in 2016, the auditor’s office found mixed results detailed in a report published Wednesday. 

The report showed that the newly created program was effectively engaging with high-risk groups, and it also found that D.C.’s Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) “now ranks as the first citywide publicly funded HVIP in the nation,” the office said. 

But two initiatives from the act have been ignored, including the creation of an Office of Violence Prevention and Health Equity within DC Health as well as police officer and behavioral health clinician pairings to respond to certain crises.

“The good news is that structures and services are in place that did not exist when the Council enacted this law,” D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson said in a statement. “The challenge is to build on new program models, make them stronger, continue measuring, and keep improving.”

The report did not declare the NEAR Act a total success but recommended certain actions like increasing funding, gathering more data and implementing ignored initiatives, among other things. 

The District has seen 86 homicides this year, a 9 percent increase from the same time last year, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department. The data also showed a 16 percent increase in violent crime overall in the same time period. 

Some violent crime categories, however, saw figures decline from last year. Sex abuse was down by 18 percent and assault with a dangerous weapon was down by 5 percent.