Borderstan Crime: A Review of the Year’s First 9 Months

One can slice and dice crime stats the same way you can any other set of statistics: a million different ways. Personally, I find the most complete way of looking at crime trends is to get the numbers for the previous year (365 days), and then compare them to the same period the year before. This gives you one full year that takes into account seasonal differences.

Calendar-Year Reporting

However, the city and police department work on the calendar year. For example, you have probably read that the number of murders on a year-to-date basis in DC is down. (DC’s murder rate is down this year and much lower than in the 1980s and 1990s).

Moreover, crime stats are reported to the FBI on a calendar year basis. So, I decided to run the crime stats for the Borderstan reporting area¹ stats for the first three quarters of 2009, the third quarter having ended on September 30. I then compared them to the first nine months (three quarters) of 2008 and 2007. Following is what I found from the MPD online crime database.

Total Crime

Total crimes for the January 1 through September 30 period by year:

• 492 in 2007
• 514 in 2008 (4% increase over 2007)
• 598 in 2009 (16% increase over 2008 and 22% increase over 2007).

Property Crime

The rise in total crime is being largely driven by certain types of property crimes, which are up 19% from 2008 and 26% from 2007. The two subcategories driving the rise in property crimes are thefts (up 29% over last year) and thefts from autos (up 27 over last year and up 46% from two years ago). On the other hand, burglaries and stolen autos have decreased.

Violent Crime

The number of violent crimes in the Borderstan crime area has remained  stable: 77 in the first nine months of 2007, dipping to 75 in 2008 and up to 79 in 2009. This represents a 5% increase over last year.

However, while assaults are down, robberies are up and the number of gun crimes (robberies and assaults committed with a gun) is up. There have been 25 gun crimes during the first nine months of this year compared to 12 in the January through September 2008 period.

 

A Closer Look

 

 

Following is a more detailed look at violent and property crimes in Borderstan for the first nine months of the year.

 

Violent Crime

As noted above, there were were 79 violent crimes in Borderstan in the first nine months of this year, which is up slightly from 75 in 2008 and 77 in 2007.

• Gun crimes (robberies and assaults committed with a gun) dropped from 17 in the first nine months of 2007 to 12 in the same period of 2008. But for the January through September 2009 period, there have been 25 crimes committed with a gun. The number of gun crimes has gone up 108% in one year.
• The number of robberies (with and without a gun) has gone up: from 55 in 2007 to 58 in 2008 and 64 so far in 2009. This is a 10% increase in one year and 16% increase in two years.
• Assault with a dangerous weapon (with and without a gun): The number of assaults in the area have declined in the past two years: from 18 in the first nine months of 2007 to 17 in 2008 and 12 in the January through September period of this year. This represents a 33% decrease in assaults in two years. But, consistent with the rise in the number of gun crimes, more of the assaults that occur are with guns, from 0 in 2007 to 2 in 2008 and 4 this year.

Property Crime

Property crime has risen in the Borderstan area: 413 in the January through September 2007 period, 439 in 2008 and 521 property crimes for the first nine months of this year. Percentage-wise, property crimes have increased 26% in two years–with the bulk of the increase from 2008 to 2009.

• Thefts from autos (usually in the form of a smashed window) have risen noticeably and are a major contributor to the rise in Borderstan crime. For the first nine months of this year, there have been 262 such crimes. This is up from 207 thefts from autos in 2008 and 180 for the same period of 2007. Percentage-wise, thefts from autos are up 27% from last year and 46% in two years.
• Stolen autos: The number of stolen autos in Borderstan for the Jan. 1 through Sept. 30 period of this year declined to 37 from 46 in 2008; there were 37 in 2007. This is a 24% decline from last year.
• Burglaries: The number of burglaries has declined for the second year in a row for this reporting period of nine months: from 56 in 2007, to 49 in 2008 and 44 in 2009. This is a 21% decrease in two years.
• Thefts: The number of thefts continues to skyrocket, a pattern seen throughout 2009. There were 140 Borderstan thefts in the first nine months of 2007, which dipped to 137 in 2008–but the number has jumped to 177 this year, a 29% increase.
  

  Borderstan¹ Crime Stats: Jan. 1 through Sept. 30

Crime Type	Jan. 1- Sept. 30 2007	Jan. 1- Sept. 30 2008	Jan. 1- Sept. 30 2009
Homicide	0	0	0
Sex Abuse	6	0	1
Robbery Excluding Gun	38	48	43
Robbery With Gun	17	10	21
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) Excluding Gun	18	15	8
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) With Gun	0	2	4
Total Violent Crime	79	75	77
Burglary	56	49	44
Theft	140	137	177
Theft From Auto	180	207	262
Stolen Auto	37	46	37
Arson	0	0	1
Total Property Crime	413	439	521
Total Crime	492	514	598

¹ The Borderstan crime reporting area (see map above) covers a circular area that radiates 1,500 feet from 15th and Corcoran Streets NW–an area that runs  from 13th Street/Logan Circle west to New Hampshire Avenue/half way between 17th and 18th Streets… and from Rhode Island Avenue/O Street  in the south to T/Caroline Streets in the north. The Borderstan crime reporting area includes parts of Police Service Area (PSA) 208 (west of 15th) and PSA 307 (east of 15th), with a sliver of PSA 305 in the northeast.