At the start of the year, crime spiked in the District.
Through May 31, violent crime was up 17% compared with 2021. Murders were up 8%. Robberies were up 41%. D.C. leaders were bracing for things to get even worse at the start of the summer.
But since June 1, crime has actually gone down. In some cases, by a lot.
鈥淲e鈥檙e at a 4% overall reduction in crime,鈥� police Chief Robert Contee told the D.C. Council, looking at 2022 vs. 2021. Compared with 2019, before the pandemic, crime is down 19%, including an 8% reduction in overall violent crime.
That鈥檚 even after robberies shot up 41% over the first five months of the year. Contee credits a lot of different factors to the decline in recent months 鈥� everything from anti-violence programs the District runs to changes in policing strategy, and even the idea that 鈥渟ome of the right people got locked up.鈥�
But does the city feel safer? Contee admitted it does not.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the feeling that people have of being unsafe, and that has to be acknowledged,鈥� Contee said Tuesday.
That fear, he said, is being driven by the fact that when crimes do occur, a gun is increasingly involved.
鈥淭his is what scares the hell out of people,鈥� said Contee.
Compared with last year, the District’s murder rate might be down, but assaults with a dangerous weapon are up 4%. Armed robberies are up 23%, having climbed well over 1,000 this year. Those figures only apply to incidents in which a gun was involved.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just [the] snatching of the purse, it鈥檚 putting a gun in somebody鈥檚 face and robbing them, and that鈥檚 what people feel. That鈥檚 what people fear. That鈥檚 what people see in communities day in and day out,鈥� said Contee.
Throughout D.C., gun crimes are down in Wards 1 and 3 and up everywhere else.
鈥淎s we look at crime, it鈥檚 not just looking at crime and saying, 鈥極h we have less crime than what we had the previous year.鈥� The crimes that we are having, people are upping the ante,鈥� said Contee. 鈥淭he bad guys are upping the ante and introducing firearms to these different crime scenes that we oftentimes find ourselves responding to.鈥�
When it comes to gunshot victims, Contee said the percentage of people shot who end up dying has stayed relatively the same since 2020. But more people are getting shot, even if they鈥檙e surviving, and Contee attributed that to simple 鈥渕arksmanship.鈥�
鈥淎 bullet a centimeter to the left, a centimeter to the right, could be the difference between a homicide and an (assault with a deadly weapon),鈥� said the chief. Pointing in particular to the 4-year-old shot Monday night, Contee said 鈥渁 centimeter to the left or the right would have been a difference in that crime scene, I assure you. And we鈥檇 be having a different conversation in the community about that.鈥�
He also noted that homicide victims and suspects tend to have been arrested, on average, 11 times before that homicide happened. But his point is, despite all that, it鈥檚 hard to tell someone that perception isn鈥檛 reality.
鈥淲e still have a lot of work to do, period,鈥� said Contee. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very important to acknowledge what people feel in the community. And that鈥檚 not just here in Washington, D.C. It鈥檚 what people feel in Silver Spring, Maryland. It鈥檚 what people feel in Virginia.
鈥淲hen you have people who are not afraid to use these types of weapons (guns, including those modified to fire automatic rounds) in the community, that鈥檚 the thing that scares people the most,鈥� said Contee.
