There’s certainly more to worry about on the crime front today, as the Post points out in its recent story. Four murders, including those of three juveniles, occurred in the District over the last 24 hours.

The bloody spurt comes two months after D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey declared a crime emergency, and three weeks after the chief cut back on overtime patrols, saying the recent spate of violence had begun to taper off.

The crime emergency was triggered by the slayings of 13 people — including a 16-year-old — during the first 11 days of July. Ramsey said he acted in part because the number of juveniles being arrested for robbery in the city had risen sharply from the previous year.

In addition to increased patrols that required six-day work weeks for police officers, the emergency measures included moving the curfew for youths 16 and under from midnight to 10 p.m. The curfew has been extended at least though Thursday. But earlier this month, Ramsey said overall crime had dropped 11 percent since the emergency was declared, and said he would now require the six-day schedules only every other week.

The District has been posting detailed weekly crime statistics ever since the Crime Emergency was declared on July 12, which compare the emergency period with the same time last year. Figures for last week are not yet available, and to be sure they don’t include these recent killings, but overall the picture Chief Ramsey painted when he eased off the emergency measures three weeks ago was accurate. Violent crimes like homicides, assaults and robberies are significantly lower for the period between July 12 and Sept. 17 this year than in 2005. Reports of sex abuse are up slightly and burglaries are up as well for the same period, but looking at the numbers across the board, it’s difficult to fault Chief Ramsey for reducing the amount of forced overtime his officers had been working since July.

No doubt the Chief is contemplating increasing patrols again today, and maybe he should, since there at least has been a correlation between the measure and a decrease in violent crime. One other part of the crime emergency legislation, however, appears to be doing little to no good so far. WTOP reports that one of the new surveillance cameras was located just down the block from the 13th Place murders, but that “it appears the shootings occurred out of camera range.”