Washington DC Sees Surge In Violent Crime in 2023 While Other Big Cities See Decline

Homicides continue to climb in Washington, D.C., even as other major cities are experiencing double-digit declines in their murder rates, leaving law enforcement officials in the nation's capital grasping for answers and residents fearing for their safety.

So far this year, D.C. has recorded 216 homicides — that's 38% more than at the same time last year and more than any full year from 2004 to 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing police data. 

In comparison, murders are down in other big cities, including by 24% in Los Angeles, 19% in Houston, 18% in Philadelphia, 12% in Chicago and 11% in New York City, the report said. 

“I definitely think public safety has been and continues to be the No. 1 concern for district residents,” Lindsey Appiah, D.C.’s deputy mayor for public safety, told the newspaper, adding that robberies spiked 70% and car thefts have doubled.

D.C. officials have ramped up visible police patrols and are enforcing the juvenile curfew in response.

And the district's council in July passed emergency legislation to make it easier to hold suspects before trial.

D.C. officials blame the upswing in violent crime on a continuous flow of illegal guns, a diminished police force and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 disruptions, the report said. 

They also point out that the homicide rate fell 10% in 2022 — a bigger drop than in other cities. 

In Washington Highlands, a low-income neighborhood southeast of the city on the Maryland border, 15 people have been killed in shootings in 2023, an increase from eight in the same period in 2022, the report said, citing city figures. 

Assistant Police Chief Carlos Heraud attributes most of the violence in the area to 'beefs,' or disputes, between rival "crews," and Appiah said the police department has increased patrols. 

Holly Scott, 52, a resident of Washington Highlands, told the newspaper that she now leaves earlier for her public transit commute to her overnight job because she's worried about being on the streets late at night.

She also packs her licensed gun.

“To protect myself,” Scott said, “because it happens that randomly.”