Photo by M.V. Jantzen

Crime spiked on Metro in the first three months of this year relative to the same period last year, but Metro officials aren’t sweating it.

According to WTOP, the increases in certain crimes—assault and robbery are up 30 percent, for one—have quickly been offset by the fact that criminals have struck decoys placed with the intention of catching those up to no good:

Metro attributes much of the spike to so-called Crime Suppression Teams, or CST, that set traps for crooks using decoys and then arrest criminals on the spot. For example, Metro documents show that there were 96 pickpocket cases over the first three months of the year, but 70 of those cases resulted in direct arrests because of CST tactics.

“We’ve said all along that by using CST tactics, you’d see an artificial increase in raw numbers, but there’d be a corresponding increase in cases closed by arrest,” says Metro Chief Spokesperson Dan Stessel.

Anacostia, Benning Road, Rhode Island Avenue and L’Enfant Plaza rank as the most dangerous stations in the transit system.