Borderstan Sees Jump in Armed Robberies in January

From Cody Telep. Follow him on Twitter @codywt, email him at [email protected].

We received several emails and tweets from Borderstan readers in the past two weeks, wanting to know if armed robberies were up in the area. The answer is “yes” for both robberies and armed robberies.

Borderstan recorded 21 robberies in the first month of 2012, up from 14 in the same time period in 2011. As The Washington Post reported, robberies were up citywide in January, largely driven by thefts of smartphones and other portable electronic devices.

While the 21 robberies in Borderstan are below the 27 recorded in January 2010, a greater proportion of 2012 robberies involved guns than in either of the two previous years. Offenders used a gun in 11 January robberies (about 52%) compared to six of 27 robberies in 2010 (about 22%) and three of 14 robberies in 2011 (about 21%).

Eight of the January robberies occurred in Police Service Area (PSA) 307, which covers the area around Logan Circle (see Closer Look at PSA 307’s New Boundaries, Personnel). All eight involved a weapon (offenders had a gun in six instances and a knife in two). In January 2011 there were zero robberies in this PSA.

The Metropolitan Police Department has a series of tips for residents to avoid becoming the victim of robbery. As they note, the best recommendation is “to be sensible and to be alert.”

These robbery data are drawn from the D.C. Data Catalog, and like any police data, they are subject to change over time.