So I used to go over here and
Caddy. That's the Langston golf
course. So to make you know,
little extra money. I wasn't
very good at that, which is probably why I
decided to go through the Police Department.
Back then, everyone knew a young
Robert Conti was destined for great
things, but the student voted
most dependable intellectual
loss until Exual right there
and most likely to succeed.
Knew he'd have to leave his Northeast
DC neighborhood to do that,
so we signed up to become
a police cadet because it provided
financial opportunity for me as a young man.
You know, growing up in this neighborhood,
you know, in Carver terrorists,
you know I wanted a change of scenery
towards over crack territories.
Help send the district
homicide rate through the
roof. Conte came of age during
the 80s crack epidemic, a time
when terror and violence reigned.
My bedroom window was right here.
That's the bathroom window.
Dislike him back to his old community
to find out how the acting Chief's
experience then frames how he'll tackle
the violence that persists. Now when
you see this, we know what this is, yeah?
This reminder of the neighborhood
that I come from, you know,
I mean, another life loss,
you know tragically, I mean,
I saw a lot of that on this block.
The pandemic brought a 1 two punch.
Lockdowns made petty disputes worse.
That's what's causing a lot of
DC's violence and distance made
it more difficult to detur crime.
The mayor says Conte will create a
blueprint for a modern Police Department
using new and better ways to engage the
community and reduce violent crime.
And he get that done.
So I think the way that you get it
done is you get everybody involved
in the effort for so many years.
When we talk about crime and some of
the issues we see in the Community,
it's just rested on the shoulders
of the Police Department.
Clearly we know that we can't
arrest our way out of situations.
You can't just be.
You know, every time you show up is
looking to take away you withdrawn,
you're locking somebody up.
You have to make those investments.
And who knows how many lives
are changed as a result of
that. Conte says we need to create.
A new kind of ecosystem,
one where the police and community
work in tandem to stop crime before
it starts and help solve it when it
does happen to make the city safer.
For all that's not happening medically,
priority Medic 30 priority coming
last year over 920 two people
were shot in the city,
about 198 of them died,
including children like 15
month old Carmelo Duncan.
There's somebody in the community
who knows who killed Carmelo.
There's somebody in community.
Who knows the reason behind his killing?
There's somebody in the community
who has information that I'm
sure they have not shared.
Conte says when the killers and the
lawbreakers are caught.
There has to be accountability
in order to stop the cycle,
whether it's gun violence or
other violent crime on the rise.
Like carjackings.
Most recently we had a
guy who had a medical
emergency who died behind the wheel
of his car and someone pulled him
from the car and took his vehicle.
You know left him on the side
of the road like he was garbage.
And I think that that's
unacceptable. Violence has touched his own
family back when the acting chief was the
60 commander and he got a call about his
dad. He was on his way to work
and while on the way to work,
somebody randomly stabbed him,
stab him in his back,
punctured along his father, survived
not just a stabbing, but he beat a drug
addiction to there would be times where,
you know, I know, you know he was,
you know, selling drugs out of out of the.
Department that we lived in, you know,
and then sometimes he when he got to
the point that he began to abuse drugs,
you know he bought him right
off this very street right here.
This is my family, that's my father,
my mother, my brother,
my sister and that's me over there.
That little guy,
the majority of my family live right here
in this block. The acting chief says
these life experiences keep him humble,
Conte knows not everyone
will look at the Department,
he leads or even him and believe
in the promise of a new day.
But he hopes that he will be given
a chance to earn that with his
actions and a renewed commitment to
building a city safe for everyone.
There's a young man at the Hill who
is from this city who's experienced
the worst things that this,
that we can that one could
experience in this city?
Who's empathetic? Who's compassionate,
who's also very focused.
I have been all of my life.
All of my young adult life even into now.
Focus on making sure that people
in our communities are safe.