DC Crime Plummets During Snowpocalypse

The joy of last weekend’s snowstorm may be gone, but there is one positive aspect to the city’s near immobilization: crime was down dramatically in DC for the February 4-7 period when compared to the previous two years. This trend included the Dupont–Logan area.

For the entire city, there were 157 crimes for the Feb. 4-7, 2010, period; this compares to 350 in the same time frame in 2009 and 351 during Feb. 4-7, 2008. This is a 55% drop from 2009 to 2010.

In Dupont-Logan, there were 11 reported crimes in the two Police Service Areas (PSAs) that cover Dupont Circle (PSA 208) and Logan Circle (PSA 307) neighborhoods for the February 4-7 period. This compares to 48 crimes for the same period of 2009 and 36 crimes in 2008. The huge drop was in both violent and property crimes, especially thefts and thefts from autos.

Crime is also down substantially when compared to the same three days of the previous week, January 28 to 31. There were 219 total crimes in DC for the January 28-31 period compared to 157 for February 4-7–a 28% drop.

Assistant Chief of Police Diane Groomes said that the snowstorm has definitely impacted crime all over DC: it is lower. However, the type of situations that officers must deal with changes when there is a major snowstorm.

“We can definitely say that snow has had an impact on our crime–all districts have had major reductions. But, calls for service, for traffic complaints, assists and  accidents are higher during this time than others,” Groomes said.

MPD 3rd District Commander Jacob Kishter said, “For 3D, we generally have had an increase in calls for service for alarms, family disturbances, and disorderly conduct.” Matthew Klein, 2nd District Commander, said his district was experiencing the same situation in terms of both crimes and calls for help.

• Total Crimes in PSAs 208 & 307, Feb. 4-7
  • 2008: 36
  • 2009: 48
  • 2010: 11

• Violent Crimes in PSAs 208 & 307, Feb. 4-7
  • 2008: 1
  • 2009: 7
  • 2010: 2 (1 robbery and 1 assault, both in Dupont area)
    

• Property Crimes in PSAs 208 and 307, Feb. 4-7
  • 2008: 35
  • 2009: 41
  • 2010: 9 (thefts from autos, or “smash and grabs,” went from 15 in 2009 to 0 this year)