With 24 days left in 2005, the year’s homicide rate is in a dead heat with last year’s. As of yesterday, the District’s murder tally stood at 185 — the same number for the same day last year, and 13 short of hitting 2004’s 198 mark.

While 2005’s body count by-and-large trailed 2004’s throughout the year, a spate of killings last week quickly added four people to the tally in only two days, bringing the total to 24 dead in the last 33 days. Police chief Charles Ramsey has set his sights on keeping the District’s homicide rate under 200 again this year — a notable accomplishment given that the last time it was that low for consecutive years was in 1986. Toward that end, Ramsey recently implemented emergency measures that allow him to changes his officers’ schedules and restrict their days off.

While District officials are quietly celebrating a murder rate that could come in under 200 for the second year running, officials across the city line in Prince George’s Country are facing a fast-increasing body count. According to a Post editorial on the issue, there have been 159 homicides in PG County this year, four higher than the record-setting year of 1991.