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Five years ago, I was violently attacked and sexually assaulted in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., by a homeless man. He served time in federal prison for what he did to me. But if you look for evidence that the attack happened in the @DCPoliceDept crime statistics, you won’t find it.

The truth of what happened to me and the D.C. government’s role in it is as much a public scandal as it is a personal trauma.

D.C. police covered up the unspeakable wrong that the stranger did to me. Even though a judge sentenced my attacker to hard time in prison, D.C. police leadership would rather deceive the public and appear less dangerous than list mine and countless other sexual assaults on their website.

@DCPoliceDept @MayorBowser

washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…

The extent of crime in D.C. has been debated since Trump announced on Monday that he would take federal action to crack down on DC crime.

But if the public wants to have an honest conversation about crime in D.C., the @DCPoliceDept will first have to be honest about how prevalent crime is. Without MPD’s honesty about the crimes that it has chosen to hide from its public-facing stats page, the @WhiteHouse cannot get an accurate picture of how bad the problem actually is and adequately fix it.

washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…

I was a Washingtonian for seven years. I was saving up money to buy a condo and planned to spend the next few decades in Washington, the intersection of politics and media.

D.C.’s crime problem was something you lived with. You took Ubers and Lyfts, told others if you were walking after dark so they knew when you were home, and knew to be aware of your surroundings, almost to the point of paranoia. (Ladies?) 

@DCPoliceDept On a Saturday morning in 2020, I walked out of my apartment on Capitol Hill to mail a package at a post office several blocks from the U.S. Capitol. I put on my sweatshirt and sweatpants then headed out the door.

I never made it to the post office.

Just one block from my apartment building’s entrance, I was attacked by a large man well over six feet tall. He charged at me for a reason that I still do not understand. In broad daylight and on well-traveled 2nd Street NE next to Union Station, I fought to get away as he sexually assaulted me. If it had not been for others in the vicinity, including a construction worker named Donny who heard my screaming and ran to my rescue, I don’t know if I would be here today.

washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…

Why am I writing this op-ed?

Despite my background working with federal law enforcement, it was only through my experience as a victim that I learned personally of two ways that D.C. police and the courts fail the public. I share those now with the hope that they inform the public and leaders to improve how crime is handled and prevented. 

My attacker was arrested on the street months later, charged, and pleaded guilty to a sex abuse charge nearly two years later.

MPD’s “Crime Cards” online statistics page omits mentioning it, though. Do you know what that communicates to a victim? How invalidating that is?

@DCPoliceDept

washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…

In a follow-up email to @DCPoliceDept this week, an MPD spokesperson stated after a back-and-forth exchange that the map includes some sex abuse charges, but not all of them. In my case, my attacker’s crime against me, which landed him in prison, is still not listed.

The 54 sex abuses over the past year listed oncrimecards.dc.govare a lie. There are COUNTLESS more sex abuse victims who have cases moving forward that the DC police have refused to tally in their counts.
washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…

The D.C. Police did do something right. The day of my attack, the police collected my clothes for DNA evidence. About two months later, they contacted me to say they had had a match to the DNA of a homeless man who had been previously arrested.

Police arrested him, but he was immediately released from jail by the judge who presided over the case.

Here I was, a single woman who was attacked a block from my front door. Not jailing him until trial felt like a death sentence. How could I leave my home with him out on the streets, living in a tunnel a few blocks from where I lived?

washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…

Trial proceedings were set to begin in the fall of 2020, but amid the George Floyd riots in downtown Washington, it was delayed until early 2021.

Then, the early 2021 start was delayed until the end of 2021. The U.S. Attorney’s office assured me it was not because the federal prosecutors were busy bringing hundreds of cases against January 6th offenders.

washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…

@DCPoliceDept The man who attacked me was arrested by diligent DC police officers on 5 separate incidents as we waited to go to trial.

But after every arrest, the judge permitted his immediate release, even when he was caught in public with a machete.

I have thought about these failures by the police and courts for the past five years, but I have not been sure how to bring attention to them. Right now, we have a rare chance to bring meaningful change.

I have shared my story. Will anyone hear it and respond?

Please share my story. Awareness to the problems can bring change.

washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/3498600…