Homicides in the District are down sharply this year, 62 as of yesterday, compared with 83 during the same period last year — part of an 18 percent citywide drop in violent crime, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Police statistics show sharp declines in homicides, sexual assaults, robberies and burglaries, and more modest declines in the occurrence of assaults, thefts and auto thefts.
Overall crime is down nearly 12 percent. The only notable increase in criminal activity has been arson — 34 so far this year, compared with 32 last year — an ongoing problem that authorities attribute to an arsonist who has struck different areas throughout the region in the past 14 months.
Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey cited two factors driving the trend: the improving economy and a daily police review of overnight crime throughout the city.
“We want to sustain that over time,” said Chief Ramsey. “We’re very pleased with the numbers.”
Other police agencies in the Washington area indicated that crime rates are down or holding steady — although officials cautioned that much of the evidence at this point is anecdotal or preliminary.
Prince George’s County police reported that, effective yesterday, violent crime is down more than 31 percent from the same time in 2003. Spokeswoman Sgt. Tora Coates said 611 violent crimes were reported by this time in 2003 compared with 418 this year.
“This is preliminary data,” emphasized Montgomery County Police public-information officer Lucille Baur. During January and February this year, violent crime decreased 3.4 percent compared with those months in 2003, she said, while all crime nudged up by .72 percentage point.
Chief Ramsey said overnight computer reviews and reallocation of police resources is helping.
“It is an effective way to deal with crime,” he said.
The District earned the derisive nickname of “Murder Capital” in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the homicide total topping out in 1991 with 482, a rate of 79.42 killings per 100,000 residents.
Since then, the homicide rate has had spikes but generally has charted downward, until last year.
The “Murder Capital” nickname resurfaced last June, after the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report noted that nearly 46 persons were killed among every 100,000 D.C. residents. Detroit came in second with 42 killings per 100,000 residents.
In August, Chief Ramsey announced a plan to combat the “crisis of crime” in the city. Work schedules of officers were changed without the usual 14 days notice.
“We’ve got to work the same hours as the bad guys,” he said.
For four months, police concentrated on an illegal drug market in the Northeast 4th District’s Shepherd Park, where crime had jumped 13.4 percent in 2002. Although the market was not wiped out, many residents agreed that crime has diminished.
Preliminary police statistics are that 248 persons were murdered in the District last year, compared with 262 killed in 2002. More homicides occurred in other cities with populations higher than 500,000, but the District was dubbed the “Murder Capital” because of the per-100,000-rate. For example, 654 homicides occurred in Los Angeles, but the per capita rate was 17.48.
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