“It was a very safe city.” So said Mike Waters, owner of a pub in D.C.’s long-gentrified Dupont Circle area, in a neighborhood Zoom meeting this past January, neatly encapsulating a seemingly sudden deterioration in public safety. Violent crimes rose 39 percent in Washington, D.C., last year, including a 67 percent jump in robberies. Homicides increased a stunning 35 percent. Property crime rose 24 percent, with 3,756 motor vehicle thefts in 2022 becoming 6,829 in 2023. The city’s 911 system struggled to handle 1.77 million calls, more per capita than anywhere else in the country. The trend di…