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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- June 1, 2020
Featured
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For a little under two months, Washington, DC has been under a stay-at-home order because of the coronavirus pandemic. During that time, violent crime has continued to rise across the city.
According to data from a District of Columbia statistical analysis tool, violent crime increased from 223 incidents of violent crime in March, before the stay-at-home order was enacted on April 1, to 228 incidents in April and 241 incidents as of May 23.
Even though homicides decreased by nearly 4 percent since the same time period in 2019, murders have increased. D.C. Witness has recorded 17 homicides in May, four more than April’s count (12) and five more than February and March (11). There were 15 homicides in January. As of May 31, there have been 66 homicides in Washington, DC in 2020.
The homicide count includes three domestic violence-related homicides since April 1, according to D.C. Witness data.
Unlike violent crime, data shows that property crime decreased.
Before the stay-at-home order, police recorded more than 1770 incidents of property crime in March. That number decreased in April to a little more than 1600 incidents and approximately 938 incidents as of May 23, according to data from the statistical tool.
After the stay-at-home order was lifted on April 29, several riots in Washington, DC from May 29-31 increased May’s count for both violent and property crimes. The riots spanned from unrest caused by the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis, Minn. police officer on May 25. News reports state that the officer, who has now been fired and charged with murder, placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes which resulted in his death.
During a press conference on June 1, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham said the MPD has arrested 88 people for crimes that vary from rioting, looting, burglary, destruction of property and other violations and felonies in relation to events over the weekend.
According to Newsham, looting occurred throughout the city including the Georgetown area. There were also sounds of gunshots in Georgetown and the police are currently investigating shell casings that were found. No injuries were reported.
“We will be out there again to make sure that the city is safe,” Newsham said in reference to a protest that occurred on May 31. “We can’t have people coming into our city destroying property and hurting people.”
Multiple fires were ignited around DC and several businesses were damaged on Saturday and Sunday.
The chief said that more arrests will occur in relation to the riots. He is asking private businesses to review surveillance video and share any images of people destroying property or hurting other individuals.
Newsham said that 18 police officers were hurt with one sustaining a serious leg injury from being hit with a brick. Thirty-eight police vehicles were damaged.
“We understand the right to protest, not to destroy the city,” DC Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters at the conference. Bowser placed DC under a curfew on Sunday evening.
Police are requesting the public’s help in identifying and locating approximately 17 more suspects.
In addition to the arrests from rioting, D.C. Witness data shows that there have been more than 300 arrests since April 1. Most of the arrests resulted from firearms-possession offenses.
Data shows that arrests in the District mostly resulted from firearms-related offenses, assault-related offenses and burglary throughout April and May. Several suspects were arrested for multiple crimes.