Property crimes were up dramatically at or near a few D.C. public high schools, though overall the number of crimes remained about the same from 2006 to 2007, according to D.C. police statistics obtained by The Examiner.

The Metropolitan Police Department gathers data for crimes that occur at or within 1,000 feet of the high schools, including assault with a deadly weapon, arson, burglary, homicide, robbery, sex abuse, stolen vehicles and theft.

There were 47 burglaries during 2007 in the vicinity of McKinley Technology High School — more than three times the 13 incidents reported in 2006.

It’s an issue that has caused police and school security to revamp the way they patrol the school, staggering officers’ start and finish times so that coverage is lengthened, officials said.

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Other schools with sizable increases in crime last year include Wilson High School, where robberies spiked 73 percent, from 30 offenses in 2006 to 52 in 2007, and Anacostia High School, where three of the year’s four arson cases took place.

Overall, however, the total number of incidents among all the schools decreased slightly from 1,226 crimes in 2006 to 1,216 in 2007. The number of assaults with a deadly weapon dropped from 180 to 139. There was a small rise in burglaries and robberies.

Of the city’s 18 public high schools, Bell Multicultural High School had the largest number of thefts, robberies, sex-abuse cases and assaults in 2007. CHOICE Academy at Douglass, with fewer than 30 students enrolled, had eight assaults and 51 total criminal incidents in 2007.

Cherita Whiting, McKinley’s PTA president, said she’s been frantically meeting with law enforcement representatives to reduce crime problems.

“People know that officers leave at 4:30, so they take advantage of that,” Whiting said. “It’s concerned me.”

Police reported 204 robberies in 2007 versus 197 the year before. Burglaries went up 3 percent.

“As the mayor and the chancellor continue to improve all aspects of D.C. Public Schools,” said Dena Iverson, spokeswoman for Mayor Adrian Fenty, “they will work with MPD to create a safe learning environment for every student.”

Commander Cheryl Pendergast, of the Police Department’s school security division, did not respond to requests for comment. Traci Hughes, police spokeswoman, would not release statistics from before 2006 without a Freedom of Information Act request.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com