Last month, we took a look at January's crime statistics and considered whether the District's ten-year trend towards reduced crime had found its lower bound. Then, homicides were up a shade over 2005, but the First, Third, and Fifth police districts saw large jumps for assault, robbery, and burglary. At the same time, the Sixth and Seventh districts, across the Anacostia, saw substantial decreases in reported crime.

One month on, the picture has muddied. Citywide, total crime levels are on par with the numbers for 2005, but the mix of crimes has shifted. Where most crimes have held steady or dropped, robberies and burglaries continue to stay above the previous year's numbers, and the frequency of homicides has been appallingly high this year: up 33 percent in 2006, and up 112 percent in February versus the same month one year ago. Through February, D.C. was on a pace for 260 annual homicides, highest in the city since 2002, but March's numbers have shown some improvement.

February was a more typical, crime-free month for the Fifth District, centered on Brookland, but burglaries remain an issue there. The Sixth and Seventh districts turned in good performances once more (for the year crime is down 16 percent in the Sixth district, 12 percent in the Seventh), except for the six homicides which took place in the Sixth district, a departure that has residents concerned. The Second and Fourth Districts remained unexceptionally safe.

It is in the First and Third districts that crime remains a growing problem. Total crime is up over ten percent in those areas, with the sharpest increases occuring for robberies, burglaries, and thefts (although the Third District appears to have a homicide problem, experiencing five in the month of February). It is not surprising that those districts are seeing such leaps; they represent neighborhoods where population is growing sharply and new development is intense giving shady elements there more targets with more money.

Through February, 2006 appears now to be more bump in the road than dead-end for crime reduction, but the large number of homicides seen so far is worrisome. It's worth noting that gun recoveries by the police have been up substantially this year, which likely means that more guns are circulating on the streets. Until the MPD finds a way to combat the flood of firearms, it seems probable that ugly homicide numbers will continue to worry District residents.