In 2013, D.C. saw a slight increase in the number of homicides citywide, even excluding the 12 people who died in the September Navy Yard shooting. The city had 104 homicide victims including those who died at Navy Yard—-a bump from the 88 homicides the city saw in 2012, according to Metropolitan Police Department’s 2013 annual police report, which it released today.
Black males accounted for 78 percent—-or 81—-of homicide victims in 2013. Nine—-or 9 percent—-of victims were black females. The number of juvenile homicides dropped by half from 2012 to 2013, from six juvenile victims to three.
Here’s a breakdown of the prevalence of other violent crimes in the District in 2013:
- Sexual assaults increased 15 percent in 2013, from 258 in 2012 to 298 in 2013.
- Robberies decreased 5 percent, from 4,304 in 2012 to 4,093 in 2013
- There were 10 fewer assaults with a dangerous weapon in 2013 (2,302) incidents in 2013 than in 2012.
Overall, hate crimes decreased, from 81 in 2012 to 70 in 2013. Sexual orientation accounted for 44 percent of these offenses. Sexual orientation hate crimes did, however, decrease from 46 to 31 in 2013. Hate crimes based on gender identity increased from nine to 12 incidents.
MPD received 358 complaints against its own officers in 2013, though only 68 of them were sustained, which means there was enough evidence to support allegations that the officers’ actions were improper. There were 29 allegations of harassment and 34 reports of excessive force.
Narcotic violations was one of the most frequent causes for arrest in 2012 and 2013, with 6,332 arrests in 2012 and 5,866 in 2013. It will be interesting to see if this number continues to decrease in 2014—-the year the marijuana decriminalization law went into effect.
There’s a lot more data in the report, so read it in its entirety below:
[documentcloud url=”https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1276759-mpd-annual-report-2013-lowres.html”]
Photo by Darrow Montgomery