Amid concern over an increase of robberies in the District, detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department announced some successes today: MPD officers made several arrests in robbery cases in the past week, according to a release.

Police arrested 13 suspects, including seven juveniles. In addition, seven of the individuals had multiple robbery incidences. The most offenses belong to Michael Williams, 54, of Northeast. He was arrested today in relation to six separate cases, five of which took place in Ward 7.

In total, the suspects allegedly committed 19 robberies and were arrested by officers from the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh districts, according to MPD.

In 2015, D.C. saw a 5 percent increase in robberies. Despite current efforts, robberies are up 30 percent compared to this time last year.

At a press conference last month (where a news van was broken into) Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a taskforce to combat robberies.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier explained at a public meeting in October that the nature of criminality in the District has changed over time. “We used to say that violence was neighborhood-based, so it was pretty easy to identify. About six years ago, the gangs stop forming around neighborhoods and open-market drug dealing. Now, criminal street gangs are organized around armed robberies. They’re involved in a high number of robberies and they don’t just do it in one neighborhood.”

Filed Under: cathy lanier, mayor bowser, mpd, police, robberies, robbery,