February 16, 2006
Is There a Resurgence in District Crime?
There's been plenty of grist for the sensationalist local news mill this year, between the robbery scare and subsequent police crackdown in Adams Morgan and the budding crime wave in Georgetown. Regardless, many Washingtonians are quick to disregard the breathless news segments as more of the same from the 11 o'clock doomsayers. As actual crime numbers for the year to date pile up, however, it does appear that the District might be struggling to continue recent trends toward increased safety.
Through yesterday, homicides in the city are up slightly over the same period last year, at 19 from 2005's 17. While disappointing, that jump isn't unusual, particularly considering the warm weather we've experienced so far this year; with more people out and about more hours of the day, the opportunities for criminal activity increase. Of greater concern, potentially, are jumps in the incidence of assaults with a deadly weapon and burglaries, particularly in the growing center of the city.
In the First, Third, and Fifth Police Districts, which stretch from Brookland over to the heart of Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan down to near Southeast and Capitol Hill, robberies, assaults, and burglaries have been well above last year's numbers through this date. The Third District (Columbia Heights and environs south to L Street) has experienced a jump in crime of 16 percent, with nearly 50 percent increases in assaults and burglaries. The First District (Downtown, the Hill, and near Southeast) has experienced a 14 percent jump in overall crime, with robberies, assaults, and burglaries all up a quarter over last year's numbers. By contrast, the Fifth District (Greater Brookland), only saw a four percent increase in overall crime, and the Fourth and Second Districts (Upper Northwest and Georgetown, respectively), saw overall decreases in their numbers, though Georgetown and surrounding neighborhoods have seen 40 percent more burglaries this year to date compared to last year.
It's difficult to ignore the changes east of the Anacostia River, however. The Sixth Police District, which corresponds to Ward 7, has so far experienced a 25 percent drop in overall crime. The Seventh District, corresponding to Ward 8, has experienced a seven percent drop in overall crime. And both the Sixth and Seventh District experienced fewer crimes than any Police District west of the river (as of 2002, all District Wards had roughly the same number of people, so the per capita crime numbers should be generally comparable).
The increases in crime in the District's heart, and especially jumps in assaults with a deadly weapon, have us concerned. We are nonetheless pleasantly surprised to see the progress that has been made in the eastern neighborhoods of the city.
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The urban crime rate is at 20-year low, but it's still too high. NYT did a piece a few days ago on this very subject, including stats from comparable cities across the country.
Unless DCPD gets its act together, their usual re-active approach to dealing with crime won't cut it. Pulling Georgetown cops to deal with Adams Morgan crime surges is all well and good, but what happens when you've got surges in both places at once? What happens when their "power shift" is between noon and 7am? And all those guys who got locked up for narcotics trafficking during the height of the crack epidemic? Their 20-year sentences are coming up over the next decade. They're going to come back to Shaw and Capitol Hill and find their old stomping grounds full of people with expensive accessories and cash-filled wallets.
Criminals go where the money is, and right now that money is downtown, buying organic cruelty-free tofu entrees and $9 Belgian lambic ales.
The increased crime in Ward 1 may be due to 'commuter criminals' from outside the ward according to Cheif Ramsey:
"More and more, we're starting to see individuals who are committing crimes in areas other than where they live. And it affects all parts of the city," police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said
"We had groups of juveniles that were leaving their neighborhoods, traveling to other parts of the city to commit crimes on Metro and then going back,"
Recently, criminals more apt to travel
By Amy Doolittle
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 24, 2006
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20060123-111958-6779r.htm
Crime is definitely up, and under-reported in Ward 2 and other parts.
What gets my goat is that Police officers come to neighborhood association meetings and take these matters seriously, but always relate how they are understaffed and don't have enough resources.
The Williams administration needs to get those damned resources before we turn back into the Wild Northwest.
DC has always had "commuter criminals." They come to clubs on U Street and shoot eachother; they drive to Southeast and Columbia Heights to rob the unarmed streetcorner drug dealer; they come to 14th Street and cold conk people going to The Black Cat and St. Ex.
The question is: what is Ramsey doing about it except blaming violent video games and criminals to lazy to rob people in their own neighborhoods?
Re: Bruce
I've read similar stories of "Ward 9" residents (PG County) returning to their old haunts in DC to commit crimes. I believe the Post ran an article a few months back about criminals using Southern and Eastern Avenues as borders to keep Maryland/DC cops off their trail. Apparently, police can only engage in cross-jurisdictional pursuit if a major crime is occurring (carjacking, murder, kidnapping, etc.).
Also, it's funny to hear the same old talk of Metro breeding crime. That's the reason it's impossible to reach Georgetown without a car or bus.
Re: der
Wild Northwest indeed! Not to engage in petty territoriality, but crime in the Southeast by far dwarfs anything coming out of Ward 2. Certainly, every crime should be reported and taken seriously, but how much press was given to the recent murder of the NY Times reporter in NW? I can't even find newspaper accounts of major police activity in my neighborhood that involves dozens of police vehicles/barricades/search helicopters, let alone a commonplace drug slaying.
For whatever it's worth, I feel the need to point out that the MPD-5D is far more encompassing than "Greater Brookland." It includes, but is not limited to (to cover my ass), Trinidad/Ivy City, Shaw/Truxton Circle, Woodridge, Bloomingdale, Edgewood/Eckington/Brentwood, Ledroit Park, and Brookland. I know, I know - the other districts' descpriptions were quite general, too....
@ GhettoBurbs: Indeed! I often have the same problem here in NE.
Jaime,
We've talked about this, yes? As a Brookland resident, I can appreciate the number and variation of neighborhoods within the 5th District. I was just trying to be succinct.
Also, I don't know that crime in Southeast dwarfs crime elsewhere in the city. For January, the reported crime goes like this:
Periphery:
2nd District - 255 crimes
4th - 264
5th - 340
6th - 244
7th - 254
Central:
1st District - 450
3rd - 726
One thing that desperately needs to be looked at is the number of juveniles committing these crimes, and the fact that they basically are not punished for doing so.
I was mugged last month in Columbia Heights by kids who could not have been more than 15 years old. When the cop came to take down my story, he basically shrugged and said, "Even if we caught them, they'd be back on the streets the next day."
Re: DCist Ryan
The numbers don't tell the whole story. The type of crime occurring in NW is much different than in SE. That nifty crime map that was on DCist a week or so back showed that most homicides were most definitely NOT clustered in NW. From the DC Police Dept website, the number of violent crimes (homicide, assault, robbery, etc.) as a percentage of total crime was 36.2% in the 7th District (92/254). In the 2nd District it was 8.2% (21/255). Personally, I'd feel safer in NW.
Ryan,
We have - and I hope it didn't come out wrong on my end; that's why I mentioned the fact that the other districts' descriptions were general (i.e. succint). I was just trying to utilize the comments to point out something at an appropriate time. Besides, I saw the byline - I knew who I was messin' with :)
And I'm not trying to argue stats now (though the ratio of violent crime v. petty crime in each District tells an entirely different story than the overall crime stats), but I do agree that media coverage of crime in NE and SE is often harder to find. Ultimately, though, all of the crime in the District isn't reported in the paper/on the news, particularly the obscene number of muggings that happen in each and every MPD.
Wait a second, those are numbers, too.
I know that the 2nd District is still safer than the 7th. What I don't think people realize is that the most dangerous District is the 3rd, right in the center of the city.
Dangerous? While the 1st and 3rd police districts have the most reported crimes, those crimes tend to be less violent (19.3% and 20.1%, respectively) than the 7th district. While it sucks to have a car stolen, it's not traumatizing in the same way as a mugging or rape. Also, the aggregate crime statistics don't represent a per capita crime rate. I don't have the population statistics handy, but we can all agree that most tourists congregate in the center of the city. And don't forget to include the hundreds of thousands of daily commuters, most of whom don't work east of the river. There might be more victims of crime downtown, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's more dangerous, since there could be many more potential victims to choose from.
The 3rd District is not downtown. It's the neighborhoods north of downtown, like Shaw, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and so on. There aren't tourists or workers congregating there, only weekend barhoppers. The Districts sort of line up with the Wards, so while there may be a few more people in the 3rd than in the 7th, for instance, it's not going to be a ton more. In January, the 7th District had one more murder and three more assaults than the 3rd. The 3rd District had three times as many robberies, three times as many burglaries, five times as many thefts, and twice as many stolen cars as the 7th. And while year on year crime is down 7 percent in the 7th, it's up 16 percent in the 3rd.
Also, it's funny to hear the same old talk of Metro breeding crime. That's the reason it's impossible to reach Georgetown without a car or bus.
If you're implying that the rich folk of Georgetown somehow prevented a Metro stop from being located there, this is an urban legend. I've seen the preliminary planning maps from the 1950s; there were never at any time plans for a Georgetown stop.
Which isn't to imply that they aren't a bunch of NIMBYs: during the planning stage for a construction of the Three Sisters Freeway (basically extending the Whitehurst Freeway up the Potomac to the Beltway), Georgetown residents effectively shot that option down. Kinda like those condo dwellers behind Sequoia trying to get the freeway closed down because they don't like having a freeway in their backyard.
I think the anti-three sisters bridge movement can be described as being more than just NIMBYism. The objection was part of an overall growing movement against DC freeways. Further, I don't think the objection was similar to the apocryphal anti-metro movement (i.e. keep those poor people away from M st.) because all it would do is divert traffic from the Key Bridge and in the process make the Potomac and the Canal above the Key Bridge that much uglier.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com/roadsnova/266.html
The Anti-Three Sisters Bridge Movement
Yet another fantastic potential band name unearthed in the DCist comments section.
bit of trivia...there are actual holes drilled into the 3 sisters where the dynamite that was supposed to blow them up would have gone.
killing that project was a stroke of luck. imagine the georgetown waterfront as a gigantic frontage road...bad.
i adore the whitehurst freeway and oppose eliminating it. screw the georgetown ritz carlton owners and those condo dwellers at 3303 water street. sometimes at night 34 street traffic is backed up all the way to Q street. those virginia folks better get scooters. i remember when they tried to get the 395 tunnel under the capitol extended north to the beltway. thank god for crackpots like harriet hubbard who fought that monster idea.
all it would do is divert traffic from the Key Bridge and in the process make the Potomac and the Canal above the Key Bridge that much uglier.
Ugly like the GW Parkway north of Key Bridge? You CAN have parkways that move people around and aren't fugly you know.
And that movement against DC freeways is why New York Avenue NW is a clogged toilet every day, why the Southeast Freeway just dumps people off at a stop light at Pennsylvania Avenue, etc. While I'm glad there's no "inner Beltway" where Florida Avenue and U Street are now, making DC as car-hostile as possible isn't fixing the problem.