Property, Gun Crimes Drive 2009 Borderstan Crime Rate Up

Click to enlarge. Location of 25 robberies committed with a gun in 2009. (Data and image: MPD Crime Database)

The year-end 2009 crime stats for the Borderstan crime reporting area¹ confirmed a year-long trend: rising property crimes and gun crimes, a slightly lower violent crime rate, and a slightly higher total crime rate because of more property crimes, primarily thefts and thefts-from-autos.

Total Crime Up 4% in 2009; Violent Crime Down

For the year, the total crime rate (violent and property crimes) rose 4%: violent crime decreased 3% while property crime rose 5%. Property crimes comprised 87% of the 711 total crimes.

The single largest increase was in thefts, which were up 20% from 2008. Thefts-from-autos increased 6%.

Click to enlarge. Location of 54 robberies committed without a gun in 2009. (Data and image: MPD Crime Database)

The most disturbing crime stat for the year was the increase in gun-related crimes (robberies and assaults committed with a gun), particularly robberies committed with a gun. Gun crimes increased 38% in 2009 over 2008, to 29 from 21.

Two-Year Trend: Property Crime Drives Rate Up 10%

The two-year crime  trend in the Borderstan crime reporting area shows that total crime in 2009 was 10% higher than in 2007 (statistics for 2007, 2008 and 2009 are below the fold).

Overall, the two-year trend is very similar to the one-year trend. Since 2007, violent crime has decreased 13% while property crime has increased 14%.

Click to enlarge. Location of 55 burglaries in 2009. (Data and image: MPD Crime Database)

Over the two-year period, the number of robberies (with and without a gun) is almost unchanged—but the percentage of robberies committed with a gun has gone up noticeably. However, the number of assaults has dropped noticeably.

There have been no homicides in the past three years, 2007 through 2009. Gun crimes dropped from 24 in 2007 to 21 in 2008 then jumped to 29 in 2009.

Burglaries have decreased each of the past two years. However, thefts have increased 16% in two years and thefts-from-autos are up 31%. The number of stolen autos has declined by 19% in two years.

A detailed chart is below the fold.

Total Crime 2007 – 2009

• 648 crimes in 2007
• 685 crimes in 2008 (6% increase from 2007)
• 711 crimes in 2009 (4% increase from 2008 and 10% increase from 2007).

Borderstan¹ Crime Stats for 2007, 2008 and 2009

Crime Type	2007	2008	2009
Homicide	0	0	0
Sex Abuse	8	1 (-88%)	1 (NC)
Robbery Excluding Gun	54	59 (+9%)	54 (-9%)
Robbery With Gun	24	18 (-25%)	25 (+39%)
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) Excluding Gun	21	15 (-29%)	9 (-40%)
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (ADW) With Gun	0	3	4 (+33%)
Total Violent Crime	107	96 (-10%)	93 (-3%)
Burglary	68	63 (-4%)	55 (-13%)
Theft	188	182 (-3%)	219 (+20%)
Theft From Auto	227	281 (+24%)	297 (+6%)
Stolen Auto	58	63 (+9%)	47 (-25%)
Arson	0	0	0
Total Property Crime	541	589 (+9%)	618 (+5%)
Total Crime	648	685 (+6%)	711 (+4%)

¹ The Borderstan crime reporting area (see three maps above) covers a circular area that radiates 1,500 feet from 15th and Corcoran Streets NW—an area that runs  from 13th Street/Logan Circle west to New Hampshire Avenue/half way between 17th and 18th Streets, and from Rhode Island Avenue/O Street  in the south to T/Caroline Streets in the north. The Borderstan crime reporting area includes parts of Police Service Area (PSA) 208 (west of 15th) and PSA 307 (east of 15th), with a sliver of PSA 305 in the northeast.