WASHINGTON — At one point in the New Year, Washington D.C. was averaging almost one murder a day.
As of Monday morning, the District has already seen 18 homicides in 2019. That’s an 80% jump from this same time last year, according to MPD data.
Sadly, this is not new.
"And I don't know if you know this or not but the number of shootings that we've had in our city has remained consistent over the past 3 years. It's just the lethality of the shootings has actually increased,” said D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham at a Sunday news conference. He spoke after a triple homicide had shaken a quiet Southeast neighborhood the night before.
The victims were found to have no connection to this neighborhood.
One thing we are seeing are seeing online are images of guns. MPD posts photos of the illegal guns confiscated to their Twitter page. D.C. police have a very aggressive gun recovery unit.
In 2017, an MPD Spokesperson says they recovered 2,191 guns. That year the city saw 116 homicides. Last year, the number of recovered guns dropped to 1,928. The city murder rate jumped that same year to 160.
Recovered Guns: DC Homicides:
2018: 1,928 2018: 160
2017: 2,191 2017: 116
2016: 1,870 2016: 135
2015: 1,706 2015: 162
2014: 2,178 2014: 105
Police are still crunching numbers so it’s NOT crystal clear, but it does appear that D.C. sees less murders when there are more illegal guns confiscated.
A problem is how it's done – the “jump outs” and "stop & frisk" practices are controversial. An NPR investigation also questions the number of gun cases that get dismissed or end in conviction.
William Miller, a Spokesperson with the US Department of Justice’s Office, tells WUSA 9, “Prosecuting gun offenders is one of our top priorities, and we are working closely with MPD, ATF and other law enforcement partners to get illegal guns off the streets.”
Chief Newsham reaffirmed Sunday, police are targeting enforcement in the more troubled areas. There are two violence interrupter programs running to help stop fights before they end in gunfire.
The Chief also says they'll be announcing new crime fighting measures in the district soon.
Here’s a little context for you:
New York City has about 12 times as many people as Washington D.C. and yet last year, D.C. saw more than half of the murders they did.
An Associated Press report published January 1st reads, "As for last year, preliminary police data provided to The Associated Press showed that as of Sunday, there were five fewer killings than the 292 recorded in 2017."
In this report, the President of a NYC Citizens Crime Commission credits their low numbers to police gun seizures, prosecutions, neighborhood policing and re-entry initiatives to their low homicide numbers.