Progressives will come up with every idea in the book to pretend to respond to crime. But the only problem with “responding” to crime, is that it does nothing to prevent it. And on top of that, they refuse to make the connection that their ideas may be the reason they are in this mess in the first place.

With auto thefts being up 106 percent with at least 5,343 year-to-date, and carjackings are just bad, being up 108 percent with 745 year-to-date, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the launch of a program that will provide drivers free digital tracking tags for their vehicles when they are inevitably stolen.

It’s gotten so bad that it’s almost like a right of passage to have your car stolen in D.C.

“We'll continue to use all the tools we have, and add new tools, to keep our city safe,” Bowser said in an X post.

In other words, they will do everything and anything BUT prosecute crime.

Bowser said at the press conference that these “tags and tiles will help MPD recover stolen vehicles and hold people accountable” but that this was a way to get “the word…out [that] this is not a community to come in and steal cars.”

How can you hold people accountable if the penalties are essentially nothing more than a slap on the wrist?

At the distribution event, officers will help install the tags into cars. The tracking tags will work the same as any and an alternative tracking device for Android users will also be distributed at the event.

Dashcams will also be given out to truck and delivery drivers in the next several days.

"These tracking devices allow our officers and detectives to be better positioned to quickly locate stolen vehicles, recover property, and gather vital evidence for investigations," acting Chief of Police Pamela A. Smith said.

Smith also said the goal of the program was to "prevent carjackings and motor vehicle thefts but also to ensure swift law enforcement action when these incidents occur."

I don’t know how many times this has to be said, but in order to prevent crime, you must prosecute crime. For some reason, progressives refuse to come to that conclusion. No matter how OBVIOUS it is.

More than 63 percent of carjacking in the city this year have involved the arrest of juveniles, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Juvenile thugs know they can get away with just about anything as many people have argued that the DC justice system fails to combat the ongoing juvenile crime surge, as the city outright refuses to even take it seriously.

If someone is under 18, they cannot be held in jail beyond their 21st birthday. Subsequently, even juvenile murderers have avoided significant jail time in DC.

Here is a thought: How about a “pilot program” that puts people convicted of crimes in jail? And rather than wasting money on a tracker that criminals can just throw away, why don’t we monitor people convicted of these crimes for some time after they are released from prison?

Ironically, many other jurisdictions have implemented this “pilot program” and seen great success.

The D.C. City Council actually voted unanimously to reduce penalties for violent crimes, which included carjackings.

This lack of self-awareness is baffling, to say the very least.

The maximum punishments for offenses such as burglaries and carjackings were lessened and the measure also eliminated most mandatory minimum sentences.

Yet, they somehow won’t make the connection that this subsequently caused more crime.

But all that said, making crime de facto legal is the most effective way to get your crime rate down to zero. You know, because you can’t have an increase in crime if nothing is criminalized.