Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) With 2017 now in the books, D.C. officials say crime numbers are going in the right direction in the District.
Overall crime is down 11 percent from 2016 to 2017, with violent crime down 22 percent. every type of crime saw a reduction in 2017, police officials said.
“These reductions and these numbers are some of the lowest numbers of violent crime that we’ve had in our city in a very long time,” Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a news conference Tuesday.
Homicides were down 14 percent, from 135 in 2016 to 116 in 2017, both well down from 2015’s 162 killings. The District saw its lowest homicide mark in 2012, when there were 82 murders. Two decades ago, the number was above 300.
D.C. @MayorBowser and @DCPoliceDept taking stock of some improving crime numbers in 2017 pic.twitter.com/6CT1usIDq0
— Steve Burns (@StvBurns) January 2, 2018
Other crime categories saw encouraging developments. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser highlighted a 27 percent decrease in robberies, which is one of the city’s more prevalent but random crimes. There were 2,183 reported robberies in 2017, compared with 2,983 in 2016. She also mentioned a 15 percent decrease in sexual assault cases.
“These are very significant achievements, certainly, but none of us are satisfied with the level of violent crime in our city,” Bowser said.
Bowser also praised progress that has been made at the city’s beleaguered Department of Forensic Sciences. She said it has undergone a “transformation” over the last two-and-a-half years, now boasting two clean audits by accrediting companies, no more rape kit backlogs, and 95 percent of homicide and high-priority cases getting completed in the latent fingerprint department within 60 days.
Newsham credited the reductions partly to the vast number of illegal firearms that were taken off the street, and partnerships with people on the ground. He also said a few key arrests are playing a big part in driving the numbers down.
“If you have a positive relationship with the folks who live in that community, they’re going to work with you,” he said. “I’ve been looking at this crime stuff for a very long time, and it is a very small group of people who are causing the violence in our community. It really is.”
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