We’ve done our best here to keep you well apprised of crime trends in the District as they show up in the statistics. Each month, we go over the PSA data the MPD publishes, and we don’t doubt that you all carefully pore over our written analyses.

There’s something to be said for the visual, however, especially when one is trying to explain where one crooked neighborhood ends and another begins. The visual element of the Post’s new crime map feature is clearly its biggest advantage, although it also examines crime data at the level of Police Service Areas, while we only look at Police Districts. Of course, the Post only uses annual data, which means that, at the moment, they’re comparing 2004’s statistics to 2005’s, and presumably we’ll get another update in about nine months. But, it’s a pretty nice little resource, even if it revealed that from 2004 to 2005, my PSA showed increases in every crime except car theft, which doesn’t affect me, because I don’t have a car. Check out the map, and post the disturbing trends you sift from data in the comments.

Map sample taken from WashingtonPost.com.