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Crime declines citywide, except in Upper Northwest
(Published May 17, 2004)

New statistics released by the Metropolitan Police Department show that crime is going down this year in all parts of the city except the Second Police District, which includes some of the District’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

Marked increases in the number of stolen cars and non-auto-related thefts, such as shoplifting, have contributed to an overall 9.3 percent increase in major crimes in the Second District during the first four months of the year, compared to the same four-month period last year.

The Second District also was the only one of the city’s seven police districts in which major crime increased during April, rising 8.4 percent compared to April 2003. During April, auto theft in the police district increased 330 percent, street robberies went up 50 percent and thefts not involving motor vehicles rose 35.5 percent.

The Second District covers the westernmost and Upper Northwest sections of Washington, bounded by the Western Avenue, Rock Creek, N and 17th streets NW, and the Potomac River. Among neighborhoods located in the Second District are Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Palisades, Tenleytown, AU Park, Cleveland Park and Chevy Chase.

Citywide, major crime went down 10.6 percent this year through April, compared to the same four months of last year. Arson, the only crime category that has gone up in citywide statistics, has increased 3 percent from last year. In April, every major category of crime went down in citywide statistics.

The types of offenses tracked in the police department’s D.C. Index crime data are homicide, sexual assault, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, theft, theft from auto, stolen auto and arson.

Sexual assaults, down 30.1 percent, and homicides, down 23.8 percent, have declined the most this year among major crime categories. Sixty-four deaths were classified as homicides between Jan. 1 and April 30 of this year, compared to 84 homicides through April 30 of last year. The 100 sexual assaults reported through April 30 this year were 43 fewer than reported last year at the same time.

The largest decreases in crime in April were recorded in the two police districts that cover the entire eastern end of Washington, located east of the Anacostia River. Crime declined 51.9 percent last month in the Sixth Police District, which stretches from Deanwood to Hillcrest. Crime went down 22.6 percent in the Seventh District, which includes Anacostia, Congress Heights and Washington Highlands.

More than half of the city’s 64 homicides committed through April 30 of this year occurred in the Fifth and Seventh Police Districts. Homicides are down 20 percent this year in the Seventh District, which recorded 20 murders through April 30 of this year. In the Fifth District, which recorded 18 murders through April 30, homicide has dropped 5.3 percent this year. The Fifth Police District’s boundaries largely coincide with the boundaries of Ward 5 and include Brookland, Edgewood, Eckington, Woodridge, Fort Lincoln and Trinidad.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator