Mayor Muriel Bowser boasted that crime is down in Washington, D.C., compared to last year even though a recent string of violence has sent residents fleeing for Virginia and Maryland suburbs.
Despite an overall 13 percent dip this year January 1 through April 2 compared to the same time period last year, the District of Columbia is still experiencing a rise in crime compared to the norm in years prior to 2023.
It comes after 2023 was recorded as the deadliest year in more than two decades. D.C. also had the largest spike in violent crime out of any other major U.S. city.
While data does reveal a decrease between the specific time period last year to this year, residents are sharing an overall sentiment that crime is on the rise and they are feeling increasingly less safe in D.C. neighborhoods.
From January 1 through April 2 last year to this year there was a 13% decrease in overall crime – after a record-high crime year in 2023 in Washington, D.C.
Mayor Muriel Bowser (right) is facing backlash for praising a decrease in crime from the second quarter in 2023 to 2024, but residents claim they do feel any safer and many are fleeing to Virginia and Maryland suburbs to escape the violence and threats
As evident, a person was robbed at gunpoint just blocks from the Hart Senate Office Building on Wednesday by two individuals, at least one of which was armed with a gun.
Still, Bowser insists that crime is on the decline and claimed it was down by 30 percent compared to last year in a Monday interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box.
‘We’ve done the things that we know will reset our public safety ecosystem,’ she said.
Outrage ensued over her claims of a decrease in crime.
‘Bowser going on cnbc this morning and saying crime is coming down in DC was some next level gaslighting,’ one X user wrote on Monday.
Another wrote: ‘This is verifiably false.’
While year-to-date comparisons between January 1-April 2 show that there was a dip from 2023 to 2024, there is still an upward trend from previous years.
It appears that 2023 was an outrageous outlier for rising crime in the nation’s capital and it would be difficult to be on track to beat the numbers seen last year. From 2022 to 2023, violent crime rose by 39 percent.
While some stats are down from 2023, there is still a general upwards trend from years prior. One of the largest crime statistics in D.C. are a result of carjackings, which reached an all-time-high in 2023 but is down 31% so far this year
Many residents told DailyMail.com that they have or are planning to move out of D.C. amid a rise in crime. Pictured: Law enforcement convene during a manhunt for a suspect linked to a shooting last year who ran into an apartment complex in Navy Yard, a neighborhood about .5 miles from the U.S. Capitol
Overall violent crime is down but the MPD notes that the statistics for 2024 are ‘preliminary’ and subject to change throughout the year as more information becomes available
The second quarter of 2021 saw 836 instances of violent crime over the three-month period, in 2022 that rose to 1,032 reported instances, according to Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) data reviewed by DailyMail.com.
During the same time period in 2023, violent crime incidents rose to 1,050.
The data reported for January through April 2, 2024 shows there were 838 violent crimes. But the MPD database notes ‘reports are subject to change due to subsequent determinations’ and the results for the year so far are ‘preliminary’ in nature.’
After a deal fell through for Washington’s NHL and NBA teams – the Capitals and Wizards respectively – Bowser celebrated on CNBC keeping the professional sports teams in the District, where she also defended the rising crime statistics.
‘Crime is down in all categories in Washington, D.C.,’ she noted, and as obviously referencing Fiscal Year Quarter 2 in 2023 compared to the same period in 2024.
The Capitals and Wizards majority owner Ted Leionsis, 67, said his decision to stay in the district was not impacted one way or the other by crime.
There are noticeable decreases year-to-date in certain areas, like in the number of assaults with a dangerous weapon
But that didn’t stop many from speculating that the potential for a move into Virginia had to do with a massive surge in crime in Chinatown, as well as increasing noise and a struggle with vacant storefronts and homelessness.
Hours after it was announced that the teams would not move across the river, Bowser announced she signed a deal with Leonsis to keep the teams in D.C. until 2050.
Crime got so bad in Washington, D.C., that the federal Department of Justice surged resources to the city to assist.
While not directly correlated by MPD, the department noted to DailyMail.com that there was a decrease in crime from last year to this year in Q2 and acknowledged assistance was received from the DOJ.
Carjackings are the highest rising crime statistic in D.C., with 2023 seeing a record high for the sixth year in a row in this crime category.
A prime example of the citizen reaction to the crime is the recent exodus from Navy Yard, an expensive neighborhood just .5-miles from the U.S. Capitol that was once considered the most convenient and desirable place for members of Congress and their staff to live.
At least two lawmakers have experienced the crime first-hand in D.C.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was assaulted inside the elevator of her apartment building in February 2023.
The congresswoman was punched and grabbed by the neck by a man believed to be homeless. She suffered bruising but was able to throw her hot coffee on the attacker and ward him off.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, who lives in Navy Yard, was the victim of an armed carjacking in October outside his home at the Capitol Hill Tower condos in Navy Yard. He was not harmed but the three armed criminals took his car and his sushi dinner.
A staffer for Sen. Rand Paul’s office was stabbed on H St. NE in Washington, D.C. last year in what was allegedly a random attack.
‘Honestly, I think I left the same week that Congressman Cuellar was carjacked. And I just said you know, that’s the last straw,’ Carone said.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was the victim of an armed carjacking in October 2023 outside his Navy Yard apartment building Capitol Hill Tower – just a half-mile from the U.S. Capitol where he works
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) expressed to DailyMail.com her growing concern with crime in her D.C. neighborhood and recently moved from the city to Virginia.
Navy Yard buildings boast some of the swankiest amenities and highest rent prices in the country – with a one bedroom apartment averaging approximately $2,500 per month. But the area is also in the news nearly every day with a new shooting, stabbing, carjacking or other violent crime.
The dangers have become so prevalent that some congressional aides will take an Uber to work rather than risk the half-mile journey to their office.
‘I left Navy Yard and left D.C. because of the rapid and drastic increase in crime,’ Senior Legislative Assistant Rafaello Carone told DailyMail.com. ‘I had to [leave] for safety and just affordability.’
‘The whole point of living in D.C . and close to the Capitol buildings is to get to work easy. And now you’re being forced to Uber and take other forms of transportation in order to just go to your job.’
Among those lawmakers DailyMail.com can confirm took up residence in Navy Yard over the last few years are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.).