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D.C. downplays homicides
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Mayor Adrian Fenty and police chief Cathy Lanier are calling a spike in D.C. homicide rate a mere “uptick.”
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - D.C.’s mayor and police chief on Monday attempted to downplay a spike in the District’s homicide rate as a mere “uptick” in an overall decrease during the past decade.
Over the weekend, the city experienced its 109th killing, meaning with six weeks to go in 2007 the year’s total to date is already near 2006’s final sum. But Mayor Adrian Fenty, speaking at Anacostia High School, noted that homicide rates in recent years are nowhere near as high as they were in the early 1990s.
“In 1991 we tapped out at 479. It’s been up a year or two at a time since ... yet crime is going down,” Fenty said. “Any time anything is going in a downward trend, there are going to be time-to-time upticks.”
Much more critical to the mayor than year-to-year changes is that over time a downward trend continues, he said. But not everyone dismissed the pace of homicides.
“I have no idea what’s driving it. When we had the big spike in the past, we could tally it to the drug wars. I’m perplexed and I don’t think it’s easily solved,” said Council Member Mary Cheh, D-Ward 3. “Sometimes these things come in waves. I’d like to know how other major cities are fairing. Until I get a handle on that, I can’t (blame) the new chief or anyone else.”
To combat the situation, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier’s approach has been to deploy 100 more uniformed officers so the public reports crime with more frequency.
Lanier also said she’s trying to pay particular attention to a rise in PCP-related crimes as well as to a surge in robberies, which can escalate into violent incidents rather quickly.
And she is scheduled today to announce three targeted areas that will get more police coverage and added social services for residents.
Ward by ward, homicide statistics and the stories behind them vary widely, both officials said Monday.
Wards 4, 6 and 8 have experienced more homicides so far this year than all of last year, with the other areas of the city staying relatively steady. In Ward 8, the area with the highest rate and highest increase, 47 people were killed in all of 2006 versus 60 through Sunday.
Statistics
Homicide arrests:
» 2006– 102
» 2007 to date – 109
dc examiNation and poll: What do you think about D.C.'s rising homicide rate?
Comments from Examiner Readers
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steve kissellExaminer Reader said:
I'd like to know how crime rates involving guns play out, per capita, in gun ban cities v.s. non-gun ban cities. This tell whether gun control works or not.
61 agree | 70 disagree
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stopbiting said:
Hey stupid, how do you hide homicides? It cannot be done and even a dipstick like you can see that. The medical examiner classifies deaths. Stop trying to up your people by downing someone else. crime is up. deal with it. You are ignorant. There is no way you can hide a homicide. Even ramsey's biggest critic, the fop will not say that. They say that public housing was torn down decreasing homicides. You are stupid.
136 agree | 135 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Get your head out of the sand. Everyone knows Ramsey mislead the crime stats. Its a joke in MPD. He kept homicide stats off the books so it would make him and williams look good. Believe me just watch, Ramsey will not be able to mislead the public in Philly like he did here in DC.
111 agree | 104 disagree
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stopbiting said:
weak city council, stop giving fenty and lanier a pass. If this was ramsey, you would be screaming bloody murder. Where is catania and the rest who would be driving the prior chief crazy who reduced the homicide rate like we have never seen. You people deserve this stuff for being wimps.
139 agree | 145 disagree
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stopbiting said:
give me a break.Yesterday, There was a homicide at 1700 blk of S street, SE where a male was found shot in the head in a burning vehicle. MPDC said it is a suspicious death. Are you kidding me? Lanier and fenty are trying to downplay this. People get ready, there is a train acoming.
138 agree | 84 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Let's stop blaming the cops for the homicide rate and start holding the criminals in our city accountable. When I see our PSA officers arrest a drug dealer in my neighborhood, the very next day the same dealer is back on the same corner. I was later told from a neighbor that the drug dealers are now making complainants on the cops to keep them from moving them off the corner to sell their drugs. I couldn't believe this until one of our neighborhood cops told me that he already has two complaints for having the drug dealers move off the corner. He told me that the only thing he does now is just sits there and watches them.
136 agree | 118 disagree
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How does one do that.... said:
Either you count them or you don't? Is this the same thought process like being a little bit pregnant? Do you honestly want the victim's family believe that there are worst times than the present... Yeah if we put each murder on a spread-sheet with a title...you will probably get one in each column...that's a pleasing thought for the bereaved. To know that you were the only one murdered by a left-handed hoodlum, with a limp, who had a 7th grade education and voted in the last election...gives me a sense of closure and accomplishment. LMBAO
131 agree | 127 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
There have been 169 homicides, NOT 109.
156 agree | 122 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
If you add the felonies for kids peeling rubber in Virginia, you would have all sorts of new statistics If you do this in Virginia as a tennager and run from the scene its a felony for being a kid. Yes Virginia is for Felonies
138 agree | 160 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The feds and their statistics always are BS this is the third most danegrous city on the east coast Philly, Baltimore and DC top three and gun control is in vogue
166 agree | 132 disagree
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Working Hard in VA said:
"Until I get a handle on that, I can’t (blame) the new chief or anyone else." How about placing the blame on the criminals?
146 agree | 151 disagree
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G said:
There's only one solution and that's putting foot to ass. The district dumps unprecedented amounts of money on education and other social programs, but that won't do a thing if the kids aren't learning discipline and consequences, and they're sure not learning that at home. You can have a cop on every corner, but if there's no respect or fear for them, it doesn't matter.
143 agree | 111 disagree
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