If you're not subscribed to one of the D.C. police email lists, you may have missed the following message from Police Chief Cathy Lanier, sent out to thousands of residents around midnight last night, just a few hours after news broke of the arrest of D.C. Police officer Reggie Jones.
I was stunned and saddened to learn the outcome of a police investigation, which led detectives to arrest one of our own officers, here at the Metropolitan Police Department.more ›
Remember when D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier told the Washington Times that she believed the District of Columbia could end up with fewer than 100 homicides in 2009?
With the books finally closed on 2007, we can take an official look at the crime statistics for the year. The Washington Post did so yesterday and found that, as expected, violent crime in the District was up last year as compared to the previous year.
Happy Christmas Eve, Washington. With the frenzy of last-minute shopping and travel out of the city largely complete, folks staying here for the holiday are being treated to a quieter, gentler D.C. than normal, and it turns out in more ways than one. Over the weekend the Post took a look at a recent decline in the murder rate, reporting that only nine homicides have been logged in the District in the 37 days since Nov. 17. That adds up to roughly half the average murder rate for the rest of the year. Are the District's murderers just feeling the holiday spirit a little more deeply this year? Chief Lanier, naturally, credits the work of her detectives, noting a sharp increase in the number of homicide arrests made during the same period.
Good morning, Washington, and welcome back to what will be a rather short work week for most of us. While airports and train stations are sure to be jammed with holiday travelers this week, the city's roads and metro system should be a little less crowded than normal as folks head out of town early to celebrate Thanksgiving. Less congestion may not make much of a difference in road safety, however, if a new survey...
Good morning, Washington. Have a good Halloween? We have to admit, this year's midweek scheduling kind of put a damper on the holiday's opportunities for costumed revelry. It didn't stop us from eating a ridiculous amount of candy, though. Naturally, we feel that the children are to blame: if more kids had stopped by we wouldn't be stuck with this glut of chocolate and dearth of willpower. Perhaps this is why our childhood neighbors...
Even if the Employment Non-Discrimination Act will move forward without the transgender segment of the LGBT community, the District's transgender residents did score a victory yesterday. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued a department general order on how transgender citizens should be treated by MPD officers when placed under arrest. In June, the DC Trans Coalition organized a forum to discuss changes needed from D.C.'s police, fire and emergency medical services with regards to the...
Last week Mayor Fenty ordered more beat cops out of their cars and on to the streets in the wake of a series of eleven shootings over the course of one weekend. Today, the MPD is launching something they're calling "Operation Full Stride." The name is easily mocked, but are its intentions? Two hundred officers will go door-to-door today in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, the Georgia Ave. corridor, and North Capitol Street, handing...
Granted, the investigation is still ongoing, but last night two off-duty police officers shot and killed a 14-year-old, and the account that has since emerged about how it happened doesn't make a lot of sense so far. This is shaping up into a story that isn't likely to go away quickly for the MPD, so let's take a look at what Chief Lanier said this morning. This info is from reports from both WTOP and...
Over at the Examiner, Scott McCabe points us to the rage of L'Enfant Cafe co-owner Christopher Lynch, who was reportedly arrested and jailed for several hours last week after being caught riding an unregistered scooter. After hearing similar stories from a friend and a pizza delivery driver who works nearby, McCabe posted a rant on the door to his restaurant, decrying the mixed up priorities of the MPD, who in his view are aggressively targeting scooter riders while more serious violent crimes in the Adams Morgan neigborhood remain unsolved.
It's not exactly a banner day for D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier. The Examiner takes the chief to task a bit this morning for her latest "All Hands on Deck" initiative: four people were shot in the course of an hour during the second night of the effort, which also coincided with National Night Out events, and the force is seriously short handed today as well as Wednesday and Friday to avoid spending millions on...
The annual National Night Out is set to kick off this evening, with a host of neighborhood gatherings sponsored by the Metropolitan Police Department to choose from. The yearly event is designed to raise awareness about street crime and encourage residents to meet their neighbors by joining in on any of the planned events, or just by staying outside in their front yards or porches late in an effort to deter criminal activity. Mayor Fenty...
Despite the brightly shining sun and lovely breeze currently making its way through downtown Washington, you might want to bring along an umbrella today -- CapitalWeather.com is predicting a 60 percent chance of showers and possible thunderstorms later this afternoon. But don't think of it as an inconvenience. Think of it as a chance to gleefully splash in puddles just like you did when you were young -- you know, like the last time we...
Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. I'll admit, it isn’t easy for me to talk about crime in the District with many of my friends, particularly those who live in the suburbs or outside the metro area entirely. In the minds of those who don’t often visit, Washington is still the murder capital of the United States, still caught in crack wars, still a place into which one...
As mentioned in the Morning Roundup and widely reported in today’s Post and Examiner, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced today his selection of Dennis Rubin to take over the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Rubin resigned from his post as Atlanta's Fire Chief on Monday, effective April 13. Once approved by the City Council, Rubin takes over a department that has had its share of issues, from Chief Ronnie Few’s résumé embellishment to the enormous...
Looking out our windows this morning was a disappointment, to say the least, but don't say we didn't try to warn you. Whatever "wintry mix" that did rain down on the metro area last night has left little trace of itself in the city proper, except slick roads. Freezing rain and ice in the suburbs has, however, prompted some late starts at schools in Fairfax, Howard, and Montgomery county. Not to mention the excitement that...
Okay Washington, so the news from this weekend isn't so cheerful. Maybe it was the thousands of war protestors on the Mall, or the hundreds of disgruntled Sufjan fans denied tickets at the Kennedy Center Saturday morning. Or maybe it was that crazy wind last night. In any case, we're really reaching for the good news this morning. Cause Sugar's Not Enough: In another entry to the "Why Most of the World Thinks We're...
What's more fun than scraping snow off of a windshield or sidewalk? Scraping snow covered by a layer of ice! Now we remember the exciting potpourri of precipitation that makes a mid-Atlantic winter what it is. We hope your morning commute wasn't too much of a hassle. We also hope that many of you used the weekend to submit some more fantastic photos for DCist Exposed! With the deadline now passed, we can hardly wait...
