DC crime stats show promising decreases, but mixed feelings persist among residents

New data shows DC crime decreasing

The numbers reported by the Metropolitan Police Department show decreases in violent and property crimes for 2024 compared to this point in 2023. But a deeper look at the month-over-month data indicates a decrease across some major categories coincided with the D.C. Council passing emergency legislation last July. FOX 5's David Kaplan has the latest details.

WASHINGTON - The numbers reported by the Metropolitan Police Department show decreases in violent and property crimes for 2024 compared to this point in 2023.

But a deeper look at the month-over-month data indicates a decrease across some major categories coincided with the D.C. Council passing emergency legislation last July.

Violent crime is down 18% thus far in 2024 compared to this point in 2023.

Property crimes are down 12%. Overall crime is down 13%, according to the latest data from D.C. police.

There’s a lot of context behind these numbers. Specifically, the numbers in 2023 were incredibly high.

Violent crime was up 39% and property crimes were up 24%. So, a decrease represents a trend in the right direction, but still higher levels compared to previous years.

City leaders like Lindsay Appiah, the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, emphasize one crime is too many.

"We look at the numbers a million different ways but what we know is that each of those decreases represents people who aren’t victimized. Even though the numbers, we always say as long as it’s higher than one, it’s high, we feel optimistic and certainly encouraged that the numbers are heading in the right direction," Appiah said.

The head of the D.C. Police Union also emphasized at a hearing on Capitol Hill last week that the District is 500 police officers short.

D.C. resident Denise Krepp has been outspoken about D.C. crime. She told FOX 5 that despite these reported decreases, she doesn’t feel safer, pointing to an officer stationed on her block currently because of what feels like constant shootings.

"It’s horrific," Krepp said, "It’s when you realize I just walked past that intersection 15 minutes before open gunfire. It’s getting texts from neighbors at 7 o’clock at night when there was another shooting, and realizing it’s every day it’s every week, it’s every night. We shouldn’t be putting our kids to bed to the sound of gunshots and that’s what we’re doing in D.C. right now."

Appiah says District leaders know people still don’t feel safe, but this trend is a start.

"We hear them and understand that, and while the first and most pressing responsibility we have is that they are safe and that we’re encouraged by the progress, but know there’s still a lot more to do. The feeling of safety is important as well, and as a baseline, you do have to bring crime down, and that’s why we’re so focused on that," Appiah said, stressing the importance of police-community relations.

The decreases thus far this year are evident in month-over-month data.

D.C. Council passed the Prioritizing Public Safety Emergency Act of 2023 in July of 2023.

The bill did many things, and Appiah says the improvements are a collective effort by the D.C. government, but she specifically pointed to pre-trial detention for those accused of serious crimes as being significant.

That was codified in the recently passed Secure D.C. legislation

FOX 5 looked at homicides, assault with a dangerous weapon, carjackings, and auto thefts month over month starting in January 2023.

Spikes into last summer are evident in the data, but July appeared to mark the beginning of downward trend lines for these crimes, and they’re trends that have continued to decline.

Denise Krepp remains leery of another summer spike and said she won’t believe the trends we’re seeing are legitimate until the end of this calendar year.

Appiah says the public safety apparatus is working now to mitigate a summer surge with the hopes of keeping the current trend lines in the right direction.