Washington, D.C. homicides are up 34% from last year.
At the time of publication, the district has seen 250 homicides this year.
This time last year, Washington, D.C. had 184 homicides.
“The city is in crisis. The city clearly is in crisis,” said Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) for Ward 5D06 Kathy Henderson. “We need to call in the National Guard. We need to activate all 38 law enforcement agencies to help MPD patrol. This is a crisis. We have to put our citizens first. We can’t make excuses. Every day, we should be seeing a representative from the mayor’s office. We should be seeing the mayor, we should be seeing our councilmembers, we should be seeing our congresswoman. We should be seeing the entire team every day in every neighborhood, helping to allay citizens’ fears. This is an unnecessary crisis, and we need to mobilize all of our resources to protect our citizens’ lives and the visitors to our city. This is unacceptable.”
In 2002, Washington, D.C. had a total of 278 homicides.
According to Washington, D.C. crime data, total violent crime has increased 40% from 2022 to 2023.
Motor vehicle theft has increased 93%, and arson has increased 125%.
Total crime in the district increased 27%, from 24,679 incidents to 31,390 incidents.
A Gallup survey found that almost two-thirds of Americans believe U.S. crime is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem.
While 63% of Americans say the crime rate is a severe problem, 20% of Americans believe crime is a “moderately” serious problem.
When the survey was last conducted in 2021, 54% of Americans reported crime as being a serious issue.