U Street: Property Crime Tumbles, Violent Crime Rises

Violent crime is up slightly in the first six months of 2010 in the U Street when compared to 2009. For the January though June 2010 period, there were 40 violent crimes in the area compared to 38 in same six-month period of 2009. There were only 30 violent crimes in the same period of 2008.

All numbers are for the six-month period of January 1 through June 30. Comparisons are on a year-over-year (YOY) basis, i.e., the six-month periods for 2008, 2009 and 2010 are compared. All statistics are from the MPD crime database.

While violent crime is up, property crime is down dramatically in 2010 after a huge rise in 2009. For the January through June 2010 period, there were 122 property crimes in the U Street area compared to 266 in the same period of 2009–a 54% decline. These numbers compare to 152 property crimes for the same period of 2008.

Due to dramatically fewer property crimes, the total crime rate for the U Street area is 47% lower YOY for the first six months of 2010. Compared to the first six months of 2008, total crime in the area was 11% lower in 2010.

Overview

• Violent crime up 33% in two years.The most noticeable statistic for violent crime in the U Street area is the 33% increase in two years, from 30 such crimes in the first six months of 2008 to 40 in the same period this year.
  • Robberies down. Robberies and assaults account for the vast majority of violent crimes. The number of robberies in the U Street area declined slightly YOY in 2010–there were 28 this year compared to 35 in 2009 and 26 in 2008.
  • Assaults soar. There were 12 assaults in the January-June period of 2010, compared to 3 in the same six-month period of both 2008 and 2009.
  • Gun crimes down from last year. There were 11 gun crimes (robberies and assaults committed with a gun) in the first six months of 2010 in the U Street area, which is down from the 15 in the same period of 2009–but still higher than the 9 gun crimes in 2008.
• Property crime down 54% from 2009. The dramatic decline in property crimes pushed down the total crime rate in the U Street area YOY. The main decreases were in auto crimes, both thefts from autos (“smash and grabs”) and stolen autos. In a trend seen throughout the Dupont-Logan-U Street area this year, the number of auto crimes soared in 2009 and then declined dramatically on a YOY basis for the January-June period. There were 63 thefts from autos in the U Street area for the first six months of 2010–a 65% decrease YOY from 2009.

Total crime stats for the January-June period of 2008, 2009 and 2010 are below the fold.

U Street Corridor¹ Crime Stats for January through June

Crime Type	2008	2009	2010
Homicide	1	1	0
Sex Abuse	0	0	0
Robbery Excluding Gun	17	20	19
Robbery With Gun	9	15	9
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) Excluding Gun	3	2	10
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) With Gun	0	0	2
Total Violent Crime	30	38	40
Burglary	16	13	3
Theft	34	35	35
Theft From Auto	75	179	63
Stolen Auto	27	29	10
Arson	0	0	1
Total Property Crime	152	266	122
Total Crime	182	304	162

Source: MPD Crime Database.

¹ The U Street Corridor crime reporting area (see map above) covers a circular area that radiates 1,000 feet from 12th and U NW–an area that roughly runs  from 14th Street on the west to 9th Street on the east and from W Street on the north to S Street on the south. This area is in Police Service Area (PSA) 305, which is part of MPD’s Third District.