U St.: Assaults Drive Violent Crime Up

The shooting, car crash and homicide at 11th and U Streets NW last Tuesday was a reminder that even in a relatively safe area of DC that tragedy sometimes strikes close to home. But, while homicides are rare in the U Street area, assaults and robberies are not so rare. (There was also a homicide on the 1900 block of 9th Street on May 28.)

Even as the strip of U Street from 9th west to 16th has rapidly redeveloped in the past decade–bringing in additional residents and people on the street–the violent crime rate has actually gone up in the past two years.

For the first 9 months of 2010 (period ended September 30), there were 62 violent crimes in the U Street area (see map). This compares to 51 violent crimes for the same period of 2009 and 46 in the first 9 months of 2008.

Percentage-wise, violent crime in the U Street area is up 35% in the past two years, on a year-over-year basis. 28 of 61 violent crimes in 2010 occurred on this stretch of U Street, not on side streets.

All numbers are from the MPD Crime Database. The U Street Corridor crime reporting area¹ (see map) 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.

• Driving the increase is more assaults, both with and without guns. There have been 19 assaults in the U Street area in the first 9 months of 2010–compared to 6 in the same period last year and 7 in the first 9 months of 2008. Three of assaults this year involved a gun, compared to 0 in the first 9 months of both 2008 and 2008.
• The number of robberies in the first 9 months of 2010 in the U Street totaled 41–13 were committed with a gun and 28 without a gun. This compares to 44 robberies in the first 9 months of 2009 (19 with a gun) and 38 robberies in the first 9 months of 2008 (10 with a gun). While robberies are down slightly from last year, they are still up from two years ago.
• Total gun crimes are homicides, robberies and assaults committed with a gun. There have been 17 gun crimes in the U Street area this year, compared to 20 in the first 9 months of 2009 and 11 in the same period of 2008. While down from last year, the number of gun crimes is up 55% this year compared to the first 9 months of 2008.

While down from last year, the number of gun crimes is up 55% this year compared to the first 9 months of 2008.

• Property crime continues to decline in the U Street area (a trend seen in the 14th and 17th Street areas as well). There were 203 property crimes during the first 9 months of 2009, a 42% decline from the 352 property crimes in the same period of 2009–and a 15% decline from the same period of 2008. Thefts are down noticeably, but the huge drop is in the number of thefts from autos, known as smash-and-grabs.

There were 203 property crimes during the first 9 months of 2010, a 42% decline from the 352 property crimes in the same period of 2009.

Total crime stats for first 9 months of 2008, 2009 and 2010 are below the fold.

U Street¹ Crime Stats for Jan. 1-Sept. 30 Period of 2008, 2009, 2010

Crime Type	Jan. 1-Sept. 30 2008	Jan. 1-Sept. 30 2009	Jan. 1-Sept. 30 2010
Homicide	1	1	1
Sex Abuse	0	0	1
Robbery Excluding Gun	28	25	28
Robbery With Gun	10	19	13
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) Excluding Gun	7	6	16
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) With Gun	0	0	3
Total Violent Crime	46	51	62
Burglary	19	16	8
Theft	48	73	62
Theft From Auto	130	228	108
Stolen Auto	41	35	24
Arson	0	0	1
Total Property Crime	238	352	203
Total Crime	284	403	265

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.