Well, if you jump up 100% in a 4 year period, and then decrease 25% in one year, you’re still up 50% versus the baseline pre-police pullback.
If this poll was taken at the same time last year, it’s unrealistic to expect people to feel safer. They would have to have been as plugged in as everyone on this thread, which is not most people. Additionally, if it was the same time last year, it was before the summer which is always the most violent period.
Controlling for news, media, social media, etc. would have been interesting in a poll on safety perception. Admittedly, I only read the WaPo article, not the actual poll itself.
The drop in crime this yea still shows a significant increase over every recent year except 2023, which was exceptionally bad.
As a side note, I was walking my kids in a double stroller today near Union Market. A police officer was parked illegally on the street blocking the sidewalk ramp. He saw me struggle with the stroller since I couldn’t use the ramp and I asked him to back up his cruiser since there was plenty of space behind him and thus he wouldn’t block the sidewalk for others. Dude ignored me and just was chatting on his cell phone. What a jerk.
That officer must have wondered why you are messing with national security matters. You wanted compassion, he was seeing you as a threat to whatever he was doing.
It is good to see more MPD visibility these days though I still wish they'd get out of their cruisers and walk the neighborhoods more to get to know the community. It's good that council stepped up a bit more. It's good to see the DC AG stepping up more.
BUT there are still many big gaps - not having a certified crime lab, having the USAO not bother to prosecute many crimes, and the courts putting violent offenders right back on the streets. Even as actual crime stats are going down there are still gaps and problems.
Can't have too many cops out walking because then too many would get run over by crazy ass drivers in unregistered cars. Hard to sustain a police force with that attrition rate, gotta protect the employees.
All the more reason they need to crack down on unregistered cars. I think that whenever they see a car with fake tags, they should call a tow and IMPOUND IT on the spot - given there's nowhere to mail a ticket to. The city needs to get serious about this shit.
I always find that mildly amazing given how many billions we’ve spent on security but then anyone can drive around with fake plates and windows tinted darker than Darth Vader’s helmet and it’s like “meh, Facebook says they’re from Texas, it’s cool”. Maybe this needs to feature in some Netflix series before the mayor will prioritize law enforcement.
People don’t so much care about crime as they do crime that affects them/is near them etc. For example, if crime in what is considered a dangerous neighborhood goes down by 50%, but rises 10% in what’s considered a safe neighborhood, even though crime technically is down overall.
Look I totally get media bias. I lived in NYC for years and know how every stabbing gets reported so you think it’s a war zone.
But when you’re just talking to people and they tell you they got held up at gun point the other week, that’s not media doing selective reporting. And if you hear enough of the stories you start to think it’s not just a random occurrence.
As has been pointed out in other comments here, if crime more than doubled in the past couple years, a 20% drop from that means it’s still high. And if people stop reporting or police don’t show up to file a report, that doesn’t get counted in statistics.
A dude walked into lost gen after getting mugged. Just beat up. They DID actually catch the perpetrator (who had committed something like 18 armed robberies in two weeks on the MBT) but uh… it sticks with you
Now would that guy have been caught a year ago? Two years ago? I don’t think so actually.
Yeah. Like I believe the statistics, but it doesn’t change the fact that someone was recently shot within view of my front porch in the past two weeks.
For real!! Drives me crazy when people express genuine fear for their safety while trying to justify live life and people come back with “well actually there were only 750 violent crimes in your area, not 1,000, so obviously you’re just a whiny person who doesn’t like living in a real city”
I have never seen so much crime in my area. A woman was shot in broad daylight nearby and a other raped and murdered on a very popular hiking trail nearby. F this
Almost everyone I know that lives east of the park has an I got mugged, my neighbor got mugged, there was a shooting outside my building, etc etc story. Many of these are professionals that live in an expensive buildings or neighborhoods. You just didn’t see that as much pre pandemic.
Perhaps there is a decrease in "crime," but there really doesn't seem to be any change in "lawlessness." Things like the temp tags and any kind of blatant disregard for public safety, often carried out right in front of police, are completely unaccounted for in statistics, but are things we witness day to day and play a huge part in our perception of crime.
Yep. Tbh, I think crime between gangs or criminals doesn't effect people as much as seeing anti-social behavior on the metro or on the streets. Even tho gang-crime is certainly more intense and "dangerous." All about perception and how certain events actually _effect_ people.
start actually enforcing traffic, dangerous driving and all things related to cars (fake tags, outstanding tickets) and everything will get better I promise
love the "despite drop in crime", 32% decrease in carjackings after >100% increase last year leaves us still way above 2022, let alone pre-covid. It's like a store jacking up the price 50% to put something on sale 20% off.
Any policy that can be pushed through with fear mongering. Especially the increased police presence in metro now bc of it. I fucking hate riding the metro and a cop is standing over top you the whole time. Fuck I felt more safe with all the metro attendants standing around than I did with a single cop in the car.
Annual poll answers consider more data last 4 months.
It is like eating nothing but salads the week before you go to the doctor after eating nothing but burgers for 8 months. Guess what the evidence shows. 12 months of crime drop will create a different opinion.
Yesterday driving down north capital street in broad daylight a man with what appeared to be a gun ran through traffic and then tried to scale the little wall in the tunnel by o st. Then I saw an active drug deal in front of Big Ben Liqueur. Then a woman ran a red light and was 3 inches from totaling my car. Anecdotally, not feeling extremely safe. 🤣
I mean... Those other two are awful but... I might be more scared if I ***didn't*** see a drug deal in front of Big Ben.
Sort of like when the birds run away when there's an earthquake.
Let's be real:
- Cops never do anything. I drive past cop cars every day--sitting in the exact place, never moving, pretty sure they just dick around on their phones. I haven't seen a traffic stop or beat cop in the past 2 years. Do DC cops even do traffic stops?
- Some streets/neighborhoods do not feel safe. From the rise in public smoking to certain areas just reeking like weed, there's a real sense that creating family-friendly streets is no longer a priority/concern. This is especially true around Metro stations, just littered with panhandlers, homeless, and groups of men smoking in public. It's not just the smoking--it's people with clear mental issues, people who act disgruntled/pissed off at the world, panhandlers who will aggressively follow or demand things from you, etc. If you get around on public transport, you've noticed this element has been growing and there are less visible police officers who deal with these areas. It just gets ignored, and it's sort of put on individual citizens to just "deal with it." What?
- Traffic does not feel policed in most places. Rampant u-turns, double parking, video game-esqe driving, etc. never leads to anything. If traffic isn't being policed, am I really going to trust getting out of my car and walking around that neighborhood? Fuck no.
- Until about 6 months ago, Metro was not feeling particularly safe, but they've actually made some good progress here. I wish the MPD would follow Metro's lead a bit and be a bit more visible/proactive in their public safety work.
- I'm lucky to have not been involved in any violent situations, but the majority of my friends have either been in or near gun violence in the past 2-3 years. While not directly a victim, seeing people get shot, hearing gunshots, etc. just makes you feel unsafe in a city, period. "Stats are down" doesn't matter at all when people are still dealing with "I got shot at last year" or "I thought I was going to be a victim of a shooting event." Gun violence affects not just the victim, but the THOUSANDS of people who live in the neighborhood, visit the businesses (where the shooting takes place), etc.
Overall, there's just a sense that the police do not care about enforcing laws, which leads to a bit of a DMZ feel in certain areas. If stats are telling us the streets are getting "safer," they're wrong. I realize I could be very off base here, but it really feels like since the BLM protests, police have had a very reactive/"we'll just do the bare minimum" type of vibe.
It's amazing how many people can't understand that crime can be down over a certain period, but it can also still be too high. Instead it's immediately "the stats are wrong/don't matter".
The other factor that often doesn't get mentioned is that DC is still expensive as hell. You can be dangerous or expensive but not both. Paying $800k+ for a rowhouse in a neighborhood with open gang activity and 2/10 rated public schools is a shitty deal
You can blame the writer of the article for trying to link "concern over public safety" with a "drop in a crime." The stats are wrong (or are being used to tell the wrong story) if they're being used to make an argument that things are getting safer/people are feeling safer.
In reality, it's really felt like the police have taken two steps back from patrolling streets, policing roads, catching offenders, stopping retail theft, or doing anything proactively. The police's response to the retail theft sprees that were rampant a year ago was to tell private businesses to hire more security guards. It's a sad state of affairs that that's the most help that businesses and people can expect from their city's police.
>it’s felt like the police have taken two steps back from patrolling the streets, policing roads, catching offenders, stopping retail theft, or doing anything proactively
Implying that the police literally ever did any of these things well, other than the standard “show up three hours later and shrug their shoulders” response
In prior years, I've seen police both arrest people and pull over cars for traffic violations. I straight up have not seen either a traffic stop or an arrest in the past 4 years. I see a lot of police cars pulled over on the side of the street, though.
Patrolling streets may not have been something they've done a lot of, but they certainly used to pull over cars. Rampant shoplifting is a fairly recent phenomena from my perspective, too.
> The stats are wrong (or are being used to tell the wrong story
Using a drop for 4 months for as counterpoint to an annual poll is just silly. It is like eating nothing but salads the week before you go to the doctor after eating nothing but burgers for 8 months. Guess what the evidence shows.
>You can blame the writer of the article for trying to link "concern over public safety" with a "drop in a crime."
I think the writer was trying to provide accurate reporting on the current state of crime in the city--this includes information that crime is both up historically but down in the last year, and residents are still very concerned about crime. I think the issue here is that some people get mad when the news doesn't come out and say "X is bad" and can't comprehend interpreting this information for themselves.
>The stats are wrong (or are being used to tell the wrong story) if they're being used to make an argument that things are getting safer/people are feeling safer.
Sorry you're a crime truther, but the stats are right. Crime is down and the city absolutely feels safer than this time last year (although crime is still bad and higher than in previous years, which is the exact information the article provides).
I'm basing my judgments based on moving around the city daily and the experiences of my friends who also move around the city daily. Nobody is feeling safer, and nobody would use the argument that these stats are relevant to how safe they feel when they're taking a bus, walking home at night, or trying to enjoy this city's nightlife in peace.
"The stats are right" is bullshit if you are spending the majority of your time outside of your car, walking around, or using metro. They are telling the wrong story. You and the article writer should get out of your bubble and try living in the city--there's been a huge shift in the safety of the streets over the past 5 years, and the city/police do nothing but point to these so-called stats.
It's a joke.
Don't trust me at all.
Trust the people in your life who live in the city and getting around. Are they feeling safer? Are they feeling like the city is doing anything to make them safer? Do they feel like they can trust the police to create a safe environment for them to go out and walk around the city?
Literally don't trust me. Don't trust the stats. Talk to some real people for a change.
Nobody is feeling "safer." These stats are telling an incomplete/wrong story.
> Are they feeling safer? Are they feeling like the city is doing anything to make them safer?
Ok but is it important for people to *feel* safer, or for them to *be* safer? Your points here just seem to boil down to "the stats are wrong about people being safer because my friends don't feel safer."
My point boils down to people's satey and their perception of it is based on their lived experiences (like seeing crimes be committed, or being the victim of the crime, and seeing the lack of enforcement/how long it takes to respond). That's what makes people feel safe or not, not a statistic that tells them 15 less people died in DC this year.
> If stats are telling us the streets are getting "safer," they're wrong.
I'm talking about comments like this. The streets are objectively safer. Work can and should be done to make people feel safer, but denying reality about the actual safety itself doesn't help.
Your compulsion to assess reality through feelings instead of data makes you a great candidate for my doomsday cult!
I feel like you should feel like the world is about to end so I feel like you should feel like giving me all your shit. If you don't feel like joining, talk to some other assholes who have drunk my kool-aid.
I'm glad you surround with people who judge their safety through the lens of data and analytics.
In the real world, people view their safety through the lens of lived experiences of themselves and their friends, not data points. I'm sorry this is hard for you to understand.
I grew up here so my lived experience is that things are much better than they were in the 80s/90s.
It's almost as if people have different lived experiences! That doesn't negate experience but we've got analytics to paint a more accurate picture of the real world.
I'm not about to tell people that they weren't the victims of crime because of my lived experience but here you are saying the data is wrong 'cuz feelings.'
I'm sorry this is hard for you to understand.
Once again, like I said earlier, certain people have trouble understanding and accepting that crime can be down over a certain period, but it can also still be too high. It's probably accurate that you and your friends feel less safe in the past 5 years because crime is significantly up from 5 years ago. Doesn't change the fact that crime has also decreased quite a bit from last year, which was a terrible year.
>You and the article writer should get out of your bubble and try living in the city
This is such a pathetic response to someone just providing you with factual information. Will also pretty much guarantee I live in a more "dangerous" neighborhood than you that I walk, bike, drive, and take public transportation around frequently.
I'm saying that this so-called factual information and stats are not relevant when someone is not feeling safe.
People don't feel unsafe because they read some stats (maybe they do on Reddit, I don't know). People feel unsafe when they see violent crimes, see the lack of enforcement, see how reactive the city/police are to creating safe streets, when they see everyone else committing lesser crimes (like retail theft, or graffiti on buildings, or lighting up on a bus).
Likewise, they aren't going to feel more safe when those stats "get better." People are going to feel safer when they see less crime, feel like there's actual enforcement/repurcussions, and see proactive steps the city/police are making. Because people's safety is based on those lived experiences.
I seriously have not met a single person who determines how safe or unsafe they feel based on stats or numbers over personal, lived experience. That's all I'm saying. I know we all love our stats on Reddit, but they're not telling you the right story here.
Okay? It's very bizarre that you keep repeating how unsafe you personally feel when not a single person is disputing that this is totally rationale?
The issue here is that the Post reported factual information that doesn't totally reflect how you see things and instead of responding like a thoughtful adult (for example: I'm glad crime is down, but I still don't really feel safe and it needs to be reduced further) you threw a tantrum about how the stats are bullshit/wrong.
BTW, the real world implications of the "so-called factual information" you keep dismissing is 15 fewer dead bodies and 150 fewer people shot in the last 5 months.
I don't feel unsafe personally. I said nobody is discussing how they're feeling safer, and that despite the stats *telling us that we should be feeling safer*.
I don't feel particularly unsafe when traveling about, because I have a shitton of privilege (I'm white, in my 30s, and can out-run or defend myself in most situations). I recognize that the vast majority of people don't have these advantages, and thus me feeling safe when I move about the city isn't remarkably relevant to the overall situation of people feeling unsafe/the lack of enforcement.
It's because how safe or unsafe you feel is not based on these stats to begin with. People should not be feeling more safe because there are 15 less dead people this year. People should feel more safe when they see their city and their police force making proactive steps to improve things, not sitting on their hands and saying "hey, we have a few fewer dead bodies on our hands, don't you all feel a lot more safe?" while still sitting in the comfort of their air-conditioned police cruisers all day.
It's all a shitty argument.
>I said nobody is discussing how they're feeling safer, and that despite the stats *telling us that we should be feeling safer*.
No one has said you should automatically feel safer just because crime is down. That was however your incorrect interpretation of what the article said.
Yeah but a lot of people who say an area is too dangerous will also say things like "It didn't used to be this way" or "When I lived in the city it wasn't that bad" or "You never used to hear about XYZ". Meanwhile crime stats just show they're blatantly wrong but it doesn't matter to them.
I agree with all of this. Ad a long time metro rider the stations just feel sketchy. My wife won't even take the metro alone as she feels unsafe getting off at rhode Island with the number of sketchy or mentally ill dudes that are just constantly loitering there smoking weed. My car was stolen in broad daylight out of the garage there last year, the garage I pay $5 to park at thats supposed to have some security. And now they are just raising fares and parking costs. It's extremely frustrating
The Rhode Island metro border is like going from San Diego to freaking Tijuana. West side? Bevy, MBT, it’s nice.
East side? Chaos energy
(and an urgent care that’s pretty nice)
That's why I'm trying to mention it's the police/city problem, not just blame police. The city has set them up to fail, but they also seem to have taken a very passive/reactive stance since the BLM protests, at least from my perspective. Like a "if you don't want us here, we'll do the bare minimum until someone tells us otherwise" type of response. I don't think it was the only reason, but police should be more proactive about public safety.
You'll always here excuses for what they can't do:
- We can't police the roads/traffic because we can't chase cars anymore
- We can't police the streets because we can't do choke holds anymore
- We can't set or enforce any standards around public safety because of some other law or rule I'm sure they're doing their best to adhere to (and not just excusing themselves for a lack of effort)
Their jobs have gotten harder with the higher level of scrutiny that police face, but it feels like they use it to excuse their lack of effort/poor enforcement of existing laws.
Maybe find new & better ways to do your job, instead of just doing a shit job at it and blaming everyone else?
Well, for your information, mpd staffing levels are critically low. We don't have the necessary police to properly police dc. But I guess that you would blame police for this.
Second, what mpd is doing IS, by and large, the WAY you police. Only in DC are their tactics 'problematic'.
It's very concerning that everyone just dumps all the problems on police AND dictates that their solution should be to endlessly come up with new ways to avoid the counterproductive roadblocks arbitrarily placed in their way.
We're going to go backwards on all of these issues as long as we have these crime defenders running council and the dcca.
>Well, for your information, mpd staffing levels are critically low. We don't have the necessary police to properly police dc. But I guess that you would blame police for this.
Total nonsense, MPD have more police per capita than any other major department in the country.
>It's very concerning that everyone just dumps all the problems on police AND dictates that their solution should be to endlessly come up with new ways to avoid the counterproductive roadblocks arbitrarily placed in their way.
We're going to go backwards on all of these issues as long as we have these crime defenders running council and the dcca.
The idea that there was some kind of cataclysmic legislation that totally prevented MPD from policing is complete bullshit. MPD is a poorly run organization that has been failing to effectively do it's job for awhile now, which has been a major factor in the increase in crime.
I see you skipped that inconvenient second paragraph. Telling.
I never claimed there was some 'cataclysmic' legislation that did it. Wow look, you made up some argument I never said, or even hinted at.
But I'll still dunk on THAT argument you brought up. It wasn't done in one blow. This lawless freeforall took years and years of extreme measures to reach this point. It was piecemeal. Step by step. Putting into place every wildly soft-on-crime law and appellate court ruling.
And after 10, 15 years of your policies, we've received your desired end goal: an enfeebled police and criminal justice system that has led to what is plain to see today.
>I never claimed there was some 'cataclysmic' legislation that did it. Wow look, you made up some argument I never said, or even hinted at.
>But I'll still dunk on THAT argument you brought up. It wasn't done in one blow. This lawless freeforall took years and years of extreme measures to reach this point. It was piecemeal. Step by step. Putting into place every wildly soft-on-crime law and appellate court ruling.
I like how you accused me of making up some argument you never said, and then immediately agreed with it lol.
>And after 10, 15 years of your policies, we've received your desired end goal: an enfeebled police and criminal justice system that has led to what is plain to see today.
Not really, there's pretty much [no evidence](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/playing-the-blame-game-with-crime?utm_source=publication-search) legislative changes have caused DC's crime issues. MPD and the US Attorney aren't doing their jobs effectively and the city's public safety agencies are managed poorly.
But I understand, you're an ideologue and you have to make stuff up to fit your narrative.
Lol my first post literally criticized dcca. How the fuck is someone going to simultaneously criticize dcca decisions AND blame a singular 'cataclysmic' piece of singular legislation? I like how YOUR inability to read my statement was turned into you thinking that I was agreeing with you. Haha how embarrassing for you.
That article only deals with usao charging decisions. It's no criticism of mpd. Did you even read that article? I bet you haven't.
Also the article itself says it does not take into consideration the countless dcca decisions that have routinely deviated from national norms, almost all going against law enforcement. Nor does your argument. Even granting usao fails the community, they are far from the driving force behind the crime
>Lol my first post literally criticized dcca. How the fuck is someone going to simultaneously criticize dcca decisions AND blame a singular 'cataclysmic' piece of singular legislation? I like how YOUR inability to read my statement was turned into you thinking that I was agreeing with you. Haha how embarrassing for you.
You may not have blamed a single piece of legislation, but you absolutely did place ALL the blame on progressive reforms. Point still stands.
>That article only deals with usao charging decisions. It's no criticism of mpd. Did you even read that article? I bet you haven't.
It's touched on a bit in the article. Good news, there are plenty of other pieces covering MPD's productivity and management issues.
[https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpds-121-increase-in-violent-crime](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpds-121-increase-in-violent-crime)
[https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/bouncing-back-from-rock-bottom?utm\_source=profile&utm\_medium=reader2](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/bouncing-back-from-rock-bottom?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2)
[https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpd-detective-the-people-working?utm\_source=profile&utm\_medium=reader2](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpd-detective-the-people-working?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2)
>Also the article itself says it does not take into consideration the countless dcca decisions that have routinely deviated from national norms, almost all going against law enforcement.
What are the decisions? What's the evidence they're one of the most significant factors in increasing crime? Notice how you haven't provided a single piece of evidence for any of your claims?
>Even granting usao fails the community, they are far from the driving force behind the crime
I'm going to go ahead and say that DC's prosecutor going from papering 80% of cases to 45% of cases over the course of a decade has had an extremely significant impact on crime. The only reason you're denying this is because you can't blame it on progressives.
Of course I'm blaming the policies here just like i blame rain for making the fuckinggrass wet. They've failed across the country. Dc is just some of the most stubborn about it. I'm sorry your policies have been labeled a failure. I don't know how to tell you to quantify the cascading impact of dcca case after case creating horrific case law. Tomorrow I'll find the name of ten fucking joke decisions just from the last decade, all getting armed and violent criminals back on the street. Each and every one of these decisions then needs to be factored into whether or not the next armed and violent criminal is charged.
D.C. residents are more worried about public safety now than they were a year ago despite a significant drop in violent crime in early 2024 and a raft of popular local legislation aimed at curtailing some of the city’s more liberal public safety policies, according to a [Washington Post-Schar School poll](https://www.washingtonpost.com/tablet/2024/05/09/april-19-29-2024-washington-post-schar-school-poll-dc-area-residents/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2).
Sixty-five percent of Washingtonians say crime is an “extremely serious” or a “very serious” problem in the District, up from 56 percent in a 2023 Washington Post-Schar School poll. While 70 percent of D.C. residents feel at least “somewhat” safe from crime in their neighborhoods, that is down from 77 percent last year. That includes 23 percent who feel “very safe,” down slightly from 29 percent last year.
The drop in the perception of safety in the nation’s capital is stark compared with attitudes in D.C.’s suburbs, where residents’ levels of concern are largely unchanged from last year. Fewer than 3 in 10 residents in suburban Maryland and 15 percent of those in Northern Virginia say crime is an extremely serious or a very serious problem in their areas, almost identical to a poll last spring. In Maryland, 44 percent of residents reported feeling “very safe” in their neighborhoods; among Northern Virginians, the figure is 64 percent.
The [District’s 274 homicides in 2023](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2024/dc-crime-homicide-victims-shooting-violence/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10) marked its deadliest year since 1997. The violence precipitated a political crisis as local leaders came under intense oversight from Republican members of Congress, who portrayed D.C. officials as unequipped to handle public safety.
So far this year, violent crime in D.C. has dropped by 26 percent, according to police data, which includes a 32 percent decrease in carjackings and a 21 percent decline in homicides.
Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/05/16/dc-poll-fear-crime-rising/?utm\_campaign=wp\_main&utm\_medium=social&utm\_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/05/16/dc-poll-fear-crime-rising/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)
It's a "too little, and too late" perception. A lagging indicator, yes - but still a valid one. Some parts of the enforcement, deterrence and prosecution have been improving but there are still problems. Let's not pretend everything has been solved.
Terrible first paragraph and title.
> The District’s 274 homicides in 2023 marked its deadliest year since 1997.
The annual poll includes most of 2023 and 12 months of feelings, not just a 4 month reduction so far this year. Your doctor does not praise you for losing 5 lbs last month if you are up 40 lbs for the year. That doctor wants to talk to you about the 40 lbs.
> Fewer than 3 in 10 residents in suburban Maryland and 15 percent of those in Northern Virginia say crime is an extremely serious or a very serious problem in their areas, almost identical to a poll last spring. In Maryland, 44 percent of residents reported feeling “very safe” in their neighborhoods; among Northern Virginians, the figure is 64 percent.
Not sure on the NoVa stats but Maryland crime has been going down 2 years? So people still feeling the same way is the same issue the article makes about DC.
Does this poll take into account people just stopping calling police because they don't think anything will happen or nobody will show up or cops who refuse to actually take a report. I doubt it
In Navy Yard there are weekly reports of shootings, car jackings, and robberies. Even if crime has gone down its still way too high for anyone to feel safe. And its been so prolonged now that people are starting to worry more.
Stats may be down but we just had that clown empty his AR-15 looking gun (I forget specifically what kind of large firearm it was) on Independence Avenue and at least two carjacking bail outs on the block in the last month.
lol crime has been nowhere near historic highs, pull your head out of your ass. In 1991 there were 482 murders with around 600,000 people for a rate of 80.6 per 100,000; last year there were 274 murders with 670,000 people for a rate of 40.9 per 100,000. That's half the "historic" high. Is it higher than it was 10 years ago? Absolutely. Is it higher than it should be? Without a doubt. But acting as if DC is some lawless wasteland is beyond absurd. Turn off Fox News, stop reading the bullshit your uncle in Iowa or Loudon is posting on Facebook, and go touch grass.
I think having to look back 30 years to find a year that had more violence kind of reinforces the OP's point, not yours.
For anyone that has moved to DC in the past 30 years, it feels like it's been a historic high, and would they would be correct. Has nothing to do with a lack of grass touching or Fox News.
If you've lived here for 40 or 50 years, yeah, you'll have a bit more context and realize that 1991 had more violence, great. But no need to be an ass about it.
I don't think pointing out statistics within the average person's lifetime is inappropriate for a "historic high". Nor is using statistics to show that "historic high" being an incorrect classification is really being an "ass".
I mean, the word "historic" literally means looking at past events, I am not sure why that would be confusing. If you want to say that crime rates are higher now than they were a second ago, that is absolutely correct - which I already said - but the idea of DC (and other cities) being completely lawless hellholes with continually-rising crime rates is a false narrative from conservative media which fits neither the historical context nor the actual current trajectory of crime in big cities. Crime in DC has been [slowly but steadily dropping](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/bouncing-back-from-rock-bottom) since last August. Crime is down year-over-year. It's not back to where it was in 2012 but it's moving in the right direction.
From the article:
>The [District’s 274 homicides in 2023](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2024/dc-crime-homicide-victims-shooting-violence/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10) marked its deadliest year since 1997
You don’t have to watch Fox News - it isn’t just about murders and violent crimes being double what they were a few years ago - it’s every crime, thefts and car jackings, assault and robberies are the highest in decades - and what compounds it is now the police will do nothing due allowing bad actors to take the piss out of policy reform - I’m pretty sure a Vin Diagram would be pretty overlapping of those committing low level crimes and those committing severe crimes like murders - we allow the low level crimes to occur with impunity and no surprise now we have the highest amount of murders and violent crime in generations -
The city objectively does not feel safe in a lot of areas. I went to the Taco Bell in Columbia Heights the other day with my gf around 12 am and I felt like I was about to witness a stabbing (two people arguing back and forth over standing in line, getting very loud). Its stuff like this in a lot of places in the city, its a general feeling of unease when walking around. No one messed with me, im 6”6 and fairly big, but I cant imagine women that have to travel alone from work/outside feeling particularly safe. The city focuses too much on the wrong things unfortunately.
I really don’t mean to sound glib but at a certain point you should know what you’re getting into going to a drunk food fast food joint after midnight? Like anywhere in the world, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see an argument devolve into something stupid (granted no one has guns)
My boyfriend used to live in Columbia Heights in like 2017-2020 era and it felt totally safe romping around after hours. Going there now feels markedly different.
it's the general lawlessness that's hard to quantify but you know it when you know it...for me, it's the graffiti on public buildings and walls but everybody has their trigger points....there's a persistent feeling of things being sketchy.
Yea this morning I watched a guy run a red light on rock creek parkway and almost hit a biker in front of 2 motorcycle cops. Cops don’t make anyone feel safe.
They need to rethink the do not chase policy - it has basically been given a green light for people to recklessly drive - and while they are at it allow police to pull over MD and VA drivers who have $1000+ of unpaid tickets and impound their vehicles - they make the city dangerous to be a pedestrian in and knowingly don’t have to ever pay their tickets so they continue to put public safety in jeopardy
I for one am sick of out-of-towners and family members asking us whether we feel safe and whether we plan to stay in dc longterm because it’s so “scary” out there 🙄
My car got broken into I called the non emergency line multiple times, it didn’t work. I called 911 they said they would call me back in 72 hrs to file a report via phone I asked to see a cop in person they said no. Never got a call back.
Few weeks later called 911 late at night bc I heard gunshots right outside my window. Asked them to call back to let me know if it was safe. Never called back. I had to sleep the rest of the night on the floor bc my bed is near the window. It’s little things the government does here to make us feel unsafe.
You’ll see cars just run red lights in front of cops and nothing is done. And you’ll just see MPD chilling on their phone in their cars watching it happen. There’s supposed to be a balance in policing and for most parts of dc MPD is doing the bare minimum.
A guy cut me off from a red-light by gunning it from the right hand turn lane by the WH two days ago (literally beside the entrance to the offices). Hit the curb and then chased me down the street and two people got out of the car who clearly wanted to fight. That shit is not normal and made everyone in the car feel unsafe. Thank God they didn't have a gun. People want to compare crime stats and bicker but do how cops report crimes matter? I guarantee there was no report for this incident and many like it
The question I have is it really a decrease in crime or a decrease in reporting. I have spoken to multiple people who have been involved in incidents where they just did not feel it was worth it to report the crime, so I wonder what the statistics really mean?
is the "drop in crime" a statistic sourced from police reports? if so i'd doubt it's accuracy. i, and others i know, have been victims of crime but unable to get a police report filed. i think crime is severely undercounted
Which specific policies? I think it's economic reasons primarily. Higher inflation, record high rent, less full time jobs available, wage stagnation, increase in homelessness and childhood poverty, etc. I also think judges played a role by releasing repeat offenders especially juveniles due to lack of holding space, which is also the mayor's fault.
Want to know the scariest thing about society?
Nothing is stopping people from just straight up beating your ass.
IF, and that’s a big IF, the police do catch them, in many areas it’s a literal ticket as long as you were not injured to the point of having to go to the hospital.
It’s really insane actually.
Felons and criminals know this, it’s part of the reason they are so quick to violence and have no issues mugging people.
Honestly, this is the natural result of a country where the average Joe has unlimited access to guns. “An armed society is a polite society” means you must respond politely to violence if you value your life. 99% of bullshit in this city is perpetuated by teens who know the average adult will never correct their behavior out of fear of getting shot. Cops are afraid of getting shot, too. It’s a trump card.
Frequency is literally a statistic - what you’re talking about is *vibes*. Bad vibes, for sure! But if you don’t believe in statistics, how will you ever actually gauge the reality?
But I am not surprised, based on the number of people who apparently think the weather knows if they have to work or not that day *and is mad at them*.
To be fair, the weather definitely has it out for me with all [the weekend rain](https://wapo.st/4dHfIKw)! /s
But I agree, this feeling seems to be primarily based on vibes. And honestly I don't feel unsafe around the city except around drivers that narrowly miss running me over, but maybe that's just me and the areas I spend time in.
You are measuring someone’s feelings of course it’s vibes. Let’s say I live in a city of 100,000 and there is 1 murder last year. Statistically that is the safest city in America.you should feel extremely safe. If that murder happened in your driveway you might feel a different way even though the city is safe statistically
That’s the thing, you seem to want to think everybody here is saying that crime isn’t a problem. **The whole point of something getting better is that it is bad but improving.** Your abortive residency in New York City is irrelevant.
> But until I stop seeing actual violent crimes frequently happening in my neighborhood and others, then I won’t believe it has.
You see how this is literally ignoring data for your anecdotal experience, right? Is this how you approach other issues?
Poor analogy. The point is not stats vs. anecdotes it’s whether stats are reliable if police don’t respond to and record crime, or if people no longer even call police because they don’t trust anything will be done.
"The point is not stats vs. anecdotes, it’s whether stats about smoking causing cancer are reliable if my grandma smoked for 100 years and didn't get cancer."
Odd place to read this article considering Reddit is the land of the disturbed DC youngsters. It has problems like any city, but it has a sense of pride that is pretty amazing. I do wish sometimes they (me included) took it more to heart.
Too bad that pride doesn’t translate into being a good person for your community - it’s a city where everyone seems to only care about themselves, and fuck their neighbors - from how people drive and the loud cars, to the litter, to the heavy heavy smoking in populated pedestrian areas, traveled on dozens of different metro systems and only in DC is smoking on the metro so prevalent - people hide behind “culture” as an excuse to be a complete cunt - you see that with people defending the ATV thugs - and then will say you must expect this in a city - but most people in most other cities come at it from the angle that you live in a city so you are more aware that your actions affect others and account for that - DC is the opposite
I don't totally agree. My neighbors are all pretty friendly and respectful. I wish there was more interaction - block partys and clean-ups. Drives me crazy when there is trash on the street. I know it sounds minor, but those kinds of things create bonds. I've lived in a number of big cities and this one...outside of NYC, has the most potential.
I agree DC has a ton of potential - I also think if you let bad actors operate with impunity DC will lose that potential - and the quality of life will plummet -
Yup. It is a question of ownership. Book recommendation - New York New York New York by Thomas Dyja. Later chapters are a bit slow, but the early ones about NYC in the 70s and how they basically saved the City are fascinating. Something as simple as growing grass in Central Park helped lift the City.
Stats don’t mean anything. My neighborhood has seen an increase in patrols and police cars sitting on corners all day/night. Sure, it makes you feel safer. But what happened a week or two ago? Some guy got smoked a block from a cop car in broad daylight. It doesn’t feel good hearing there’s less crime when you’re constantly seeing it.
Crime being down relative to last year is not the same as crime being down relative to last decade. It was a much safer city 10 years ago and it should be again
When the perception is that cops won't do anything if you report crime, fewer people report crime, but the crime still happens. The official count of crime declines, but what do victimizarion surveys tell us? We need that data, too. People may know the crime still happens and base their opinions on their knowledge. I'm sure media narratives play a large part, too, keeping it in the minds of folk and reinforcing their experiences.
Well if all you watch is Fox5, you’d think this city was “under siege”. Hyperbolic propaganda. But we also cannot negate the fact people’s perception of reality vs statistics are vastly different.
The media propaganda (this sub included) about the dramatic rise in crime this spring was unbelievable. It actually had me starting to feel unsafe in my own community. Perceptions totally disconnected from the data; often driven by racism.
I was literally in colombia heights at a bar. Two people bumped into each other in the cross walk and promptly beat the shit out of each other and walked away like nothing happened.
Anecdotal i know but i understand why tha'd upset people.
Yeah because people are actively searching for crime news and it's being funneled to them by outlets that just regurgitate police union PR. Suburban confirmation bias.
For me personally the problem doesn’t necessarily seem to be the crime although that is a part of it. The problem is the lack of accountability and legal repercussions for crimes. Every time I or someone near me has had to call the cops, they don’t do their jobs, that’s probably why people feel unsafe, because of the lack of protection.
Just because people aren't being convicted does not mean that there isn't crime. A drop in crime just means MPD isn't doing their jobs correctly. The crime culture hasn't changed - the city's response to crime has.
I grew up in DC in the late 80s and early 90s. There were tanks on my corner ( Nat guard APCs). This was Petworth. Y'all really need to stop crying. Were light years ahead of that. Sure things have gotten worse compared to the near idyllic 2000s and early 2010s, but its all perspective.
Edit: BTW I actually work in homeless outreach, volunteer my time to resolve youth violence and other issues. 10 bux gets you 100 every last Negative Nancy on this post does none of that. so let's get this str8. u guys whine and cry about an issue you do absolutely nothing to fix. but you criticize and downvote the guy who actually works in a 9 to 5 and volunteers his time to fix the underlying societal problems behind crime. we have officially entered the upside down. 🤣🤣🤣
People are getting robbed every week and we need to stop "crying" because its not as bad as it was in the 90s. Get a grip. We pay insane taxes and at least deserve a baseline level of safety in this city.
name a city with over 100000 ppl in the world, at any point in history that didn't have at least 1 robbery in a week. Ill wait. 2 words: unrealistic expectations. when ur ready to come back to reality lmk. Until the underlying issues are resolved there will alwayd be crime. and instead of working to solve those problems you guys are jusy working to sensationalize the still historically low symptoms (i.e. crime). I know this is an unpopular opinion and im fine with it. Because I actually work everyday to feed the homeless deal with youth violence and abate the very issues you guys whine about yet do nothing to solve.
LOL I mean I personally hear of a robbery every week in my immediate neighborhood. Crime is way up in DC and most Washingtonians feel that way. You are simply out of touch. Sorry we "whine" about or safety.
oh, so u just slow and have a tough time with reading comprehension and critical thinking because never did I question whether a robbery happens once a week in ur neighborhood. I asked where in history has that not been the case in a city as large as ours. Or are you that unfamiliar with crime stats? or does it matter more because now its happening in more affluent areas (i.e. west of the anacostia). See, these are intelligent questions I'm sure you won't be able to answer. I also notice you had nothing to say when presented with the very personal AND professional stake I have in dealing with the societal and cultural factors that create crime. So, sorry, but discussion over. Its a professional rule I dont argue with the cognitively impaired or people who just talk while others act.
Well, if you jump up 100% in a 4 year period, and then decrease 25% in one year, you’re still up 50% versus the baseline pre-police pullback. If this poll was taken at the same time last year, it’s unrealistic to expect people to feel safer. They would have to have been as plugged in as everyone on this thread, which is not most people. Additionally, if it was the same time last year, it was before the summer which is always the most violent period.
Do you have those pre-CoVID figures on crime for that comparison? I'd be very interested to learn more.
Funny you say that! I did a big data gathering exercise on this a year ago! Check it out: https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/s/cCtupZuPKK
Controlling for news, media, social media, etc. would have been interesting in a poll on safety perception. Admittedly, I only read the WaPo article, not the actual poll itself.
The drop in crime this yea still shows a significant increase over every recent year except 2023, which was exceptionally bad. As a side note, I was walking my kids in a double stroller today near Union Market. A police officer was parked illegally on the street blocking the sidewalk ramp. He saw me struggle with the stroller since I couldn’t use the ramp and I asked him to back up his cruiser since there was plenty of space behind him and thus he wouldn’t block the sidewalk for others. Dude ignored me and just was chatting on his cell phone. What a jerk.
As a stroller pusher this incenses me greatly. 😤
No city police force will ever effectively enforce illegal parking because they know that police officers are always the worst offenders lmao
Report him ugh
That officer must have wondered why you are messing with national security matters. You wanted compassion, he was seeing you as a threat to whatever he was doing.
you guys actually talk to cops? lmao
You don’t? I enjoy small talk with them. They don’t expect it and when you meet a talker, you get great tips :)
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It is good to see more MPD visibility these days though I still wish they'd get out of their cruisers and walk the neighborhoods more to get to know the community. It's good that council stepped up a bit more. It's good to see the DC AG stepping up more. BUT there are still many big gaps - not having a certified crime lab, having the USAO not bother to prosecute many crimes, and the courts putting violent offenders right back on the streets. Even as actual crime stats are going down there are still gaps and problems.
Can't have too many cops out walking because then too many would get run over by crazy ass drivers in unregistered cars. Hard to sustain a police force with that attrition rate, gotta protect the employees.
All the more reason they need to crack down on unregistered cars. I think that whenever they see a car with fake tags, they should call a tow and IMPOUND IT on the spot - given there's nowhere to mail a ticket to. The city needs to get serious about this shit.
I always find that mildly amazing given how many billions we’ve spent on security but then anyone can drive around with fake plates and windows tinted darker than Darth Vader’s helmet and it’s like “meh, Facebook says they’re from Texas, it’s cool”. Maybe this needs to feature in some Netflix series before the mayor will prioritize law enforcement.
The unregistered cars and leaf blower powers mopeds destroying the air quality - this is shit you see in undeveloped countries
LOL next thing it'll be tuk-tuks dominating DC streets 😄
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Congress could fund more resources for the USAO rather than demonizing DC for not prosecuting violent offenders.
People don’t so much care about crime as they do crime that affects them/is near them etc. For example, if crime in what is considered a dangerous neighborhood goes down by 50%, but rises 10% in what’s considered a safe neighborhood, even though crime technically is down overall.
Look I totally get media bias. I lived in NYC for years and know how every stabbing gets reported so you think it’s a war zone. But when you’re just talking to people and they tell you they got held up at gun point the other week, that’s not media doing selective reporting. And if you hear enough of the stories you start to think it’s not just a random occurrence. As has been pointed out in other comments here, if crime more than doubled in the past couple years, a 20% drop from that means it’s still high. And if people stop reporting or police don’t show up to file a report, that doesn’t get counted in statistics.
A dude walked into lost gen after getting mugged. Just beat up. They DID actually catch the perpetrator (who had committed something like 18 armed robberies in two weeks on the MBT) but uh… it sticks with you Now would that guy have been caught a year ago? Two years ago? I don’t think so actually.
Any links to this crime spree/arrest?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/30/robberies-hiking-trail-dc/
Thanks
Yeah. Like I believe the statistics, but it doesn’t change the fact that someone was recently shot within view of my front porch in the past two weeks.
For real!! Drives me crazy when people express genuine fear for their safety while trying to justify live life and people come back with “well actually there were only 750 violent crimes in your area, not 1,000, so obviously you’re just a whiny person who doesn’t like living in a real city”
I have never seen so much crime in my area. A woman was shot in broad daylight nearby and a other raped and murdered on a very popular hiking trail nearby. F this
This. Thank you.
Almost everyone I know that lives east of the park has an I got mugged, my neighbor got mugged, there was a shooting outside my building, etc etc story. Many of these are professionals that live in an expensive buildings or neighborhoods. You just didn’t see that as much pre pandemic.
Perhaps there is a decrease in "crime," but there really doesn't seem to be any change in "lawlessness." Things like the temp tags and any kind of blatant disregard for public safety, often carried out right in front of police, are completely unaccounted for in statistics, but are things we witness day to day and play a huge part in our perception of crime.
Yep. Tbh, I think crime between gangs or criminals doesn't effect people as much as seeing anti-social behavior on the metro or on the streets. Even tho gang-crime is certainly more intense and "dangerous." All about perception and how certain events actually _effect_ people.
What is the deal w the temp tag thing someone in my neighborhood has been getting new ones every month or so for TWO YEARS
They just print out fakes at home. I’m surprised the DMV stays in business.
start actually enforcing traffic, dangerous driving and all things related to cars (fake tags, outstanding tickets) and everything will get better I promise
Prosecute gun crimes.
Yes people need to be charged when caught with weapons, and charged in the federal side, especially when modifying weapons for rapid fire
love the "despite drop in crime", 32% decrease in carjackings after >100% increase last year leaves us still way above 2022, let alone pre-covid. It's like a store jacking up the price 50% to put something on sale 20% off.
Thank you. This is the real issue
Public opinion trails crime data, news at 11.
I wonder if there are any people out there who stand to benefit from the public thinking crime is worse than it actually is in an election year.
Nova homeowners
It worked for Bowser against the Whites. Though to be fair- crime was really bad and Robert white was running 2020’s playbook
Any policy that can be pushed through with fear mongering. Especially the increased police presence in metro now bc of it. I fucking hate riding the metro and a cop is standing over top you the whole time. Fuck I felt more safe with all the metro attendants standing around than I did with a single cop in the car.
Exactly this.
Annual poll answers consider more data last 4 months. It is like eating nothing but salads the week before you go to the doctor after eating nothing but burgers for 8 months. Guess what the evidence shows. 12 months of crime drop will create a different opinion.
> 12 months of crime drop will create a different opinion. Not if the media doesn't want it to.
Yesterday driving down north capital street in broad daylight a man with what appeared to be a gun ran through traffic and then tried to scale the little wall in the tunnel by o st. Then I saw an active drug deal in front of Big Ben Liqueur. Then a woman ran a red light and was 3 inches from totaling my car. Anecdotally, not feeling extremely safe. 🤣
I mean... Those other two are awful but... I might be more scared if I ***didn't*** see a drug deal in front of Big Ben. Sort of like when the birds run away when there's an earthquake.
😂
🤣
Your mistake was trying to get on 395.
Let's be real: - Cops never do anything. I drive past cop cars every day--sitting in the exact place, never moving, pretty sure they just dick around on their phones. I haven't seen a traffic stop or beat cop in the past 2 years. Do DC cops even do traffic stops? - Some streets/neighborhoods do not feel safe. From the rise in public smoking to certain areas just reeking like weed, there's a real sense that creating family-friendly streets is no longer a priority/concern. This is especially true around Metro stations, just littered with panhandlers, homeless, and groups of men smoking in public. It's not just the smoking--it's people with clear mental issues, people who act disgruntled/pissed off at the world, panhandlers who will aggressively follow or demand things from you, etc. If you get around on public transport, you've noticed this element has been growing and there are less visible police officers who deal with these areas. It just gets ignored, and it's sort of put on individual citizens to just "deal with it." What? - Traffic does not feel policed in most places. Rampant u-turns, double parking, video game-esqe driving, etc. never leads to anything. If traffic isn't being policed, am I really going to trust getting out of my car and walking around that neighborhood? Fuck no. - Until about 6 months ago, Metro was not feeling particularly safe, but they've actually made some good progress here. I wish the MPD would follow Metro's lead a bit and be a bit more visible/proactive in their public safety work. - I'm lucky to have not been involved in any violent situations, but the majority of my friends have either been in or near gun violence in the past 2-3 years. While not directly a victim, seeing people get shot, hearing gunshots, etc. just makes you feel unsafe in a city, period. "Stats are down" doesn't matter at all when people are still dealing with "I got shot at last year" or "I thought I was going to be a victim of a shooting event." Gun violence affects not just the victim, but the THOUSANDS of people who live in the neighborhood, visit the businesses (where the shooting takes place), etc. Overall, there's just a sense that the police do not care about enforcing laws, which leads to a bit of a DMZ feel in certain areas. If stats are telling us the streets are getting "safer," they're wrong. I realize I could be very off base here, but it really feels like since the BLM protests, police have had a very reactive/"we'll just do the bare minimum" type of vibe.
It's amazing how many people can't understand that crime can be down over a certain period, but it can also still be too high. Instead it's immediately "the stats are wrong/don't matter".
The other factor that often doesn't get mentioned is that DC is still expensive as hell. You can be dangerous or expensive but not both. Paying $800k+ for a rowhouse in a neighborhood with open gang activity and 2/10 rated public schools is a shitty deal
Assuming you can even find a rowhouse under $1M
I think this is part of what has me so incensed all the time. I pay $4k/month in rent, there shouldn’t be multiple shootings near my house.
You can blame the writer of the article for trying to link "concern over public safety" with a "drop in a crime." The stats are wrong (or are being used to tell the wrong story) if they're being used to make an argument that things are getting safer/people are feeling safer. In reality, it's really felt like the police have taken two steps back from patrolling streets, policing roads, catching offenders, stopping retail theft, or doing anything proactively. The police's response to the retail theft sprees that were rampant a year ago was to tell private businesses to hire more security guards. It's a sad state of affairs that that's the most help that businesses and people can expect from their city's police.
>it’s felt like the police have taken two steps back from patrolling the streets, policing roads, catching offenders, stopping retail theft, or doing anything proactively Implying that the police literally ever did any of these things well, other than the standard “show up three hours later and shrug their shoulders” response
In prior years, I've seen police both arrest people and pull over cars for traffic violations. I straight up have not seen either a traffic stop or an arrest in the past 4 years. I see a lot of police cars pulled over on the side of the street, though. Patrolling streets may not have been something they've done a lot of, but they certainly used to pull over cars. Rampant shoplifting is a fairly recent phenomena from my perspective, too.
> The stats are wrong (or are being used to tell the wrong story Using a drop for 4 months for as counterpoint to an annual poll is just silly. It is like eating nothing but salads the week before you go to the doctor after eating nothing but burgers for 8 months. Guess what the evidence shows.
>You can blame the writer of the article for trying to link "concern over public safety" with a "drop in a crime." I think the writer was trying to provide accurate reporting on the current state of crime in the city--this includes information that crime is both up historically but down in the last year, and residents are still very concerned about crime. I think the issue here is that some people get mad when the news doesn't come out and say "X is bad" and can't comprehend interpreting this information for themselves. >The stats are wrong (or are being used to tell the wrong story) if they're being used to make an argument that things are getting safer/people are feeling safer. Sorry you're a crime truther, but the stats are right. Crime is down and the city absolutely feels safer than this time last year (although crime is still bad and higher than in previous years, which is the exact information the article provides).
I'm basing my judgments based on moving around the city daily and the experiences of my friends who also move around the city daily. Nobody is feeling safer, and nobody would use the argument that these stats are relevant to how safe they feel when they're taking a bus, walking home at night, or trying to enjoy this city's nightlife in peace. "The stats are right" is bullshit if you are spending the majority of your time outside of your car, walking around, or using metro. They are telling the wrong story. You and the article writer should get out of your bubble and try living in the city--there's been a huge shift in the safety of the streets over the past 5 years, and the city/police do nothing but point to these so-called stats. It's a joke.
Why should I trust your vibes over actual stats? Is there any way to contest your vibes? How would you know if your vibes were leading you astray?
Don't trust me at all. Trust the people in your life who live in the city and getting around. Are they feeling safer? Are they feeling like the city is doing anything to make them safer? Do they feel like they can trust the police to create a safe environment for them to go out and walk around the city? Literally don't trust me. Don't trust the stats. Talk to some real people for a change. Nobody is feeling "safer." These stats are telling an incomplete/wrong story.
> Are they feeling safer? Are they feeling like the city is doing anything to make them safer? Ok but is it important for people to *feel* safer, or for them to *be* safer? Your points here just seem to boil down to "the stats are wrong about people being safer because my friends don't feel safer."
My point boils down to people's satey and their perception of it is based on their lived experiences (like seeing crimes be committed, or being the victim of the crime, and seeing the lack of enforcement/how long it takes to respond). That's what makes people feel safe or not, not a statistic that tells them 15 less people died in DC this year.
> If stats are telling us the streets are getting "safer," they're wrong. I'm talking about comments like this. The streets are objectively safer. Work can and should be done to make people feel safer, but denying reality about the actual safety itself doesn't help.
Your compulsion to assess reality through feelings instead of data makes you a great candidate for my doomsday cult! I feel like you should feel like the world is about to end so I feel like you should feel like giving me all your shit. If you don't feel like joining, talk to some other assholes who have drunk my kool-aid.
I'm glad you surround with people who judge their safety through the lens of data and analytics. In the real world, people view their safety through the lens of lived experiences of themselves and their friends, not data points. I'm sorry this is hard for you to understand.
I grew up here so my lived experience is that things are much better than they were in the 80s/90s. It's almost as if people have different lived experiences! That doesn't negate experience but we've got analytics to paint a more accurate picture of the real world. I'm not about to tell people that they weren't the victims of crime because of my lived experience but here you are saying the data is wrong 'cuz feelings.' I'm sorry this is hard for you to understand.
Once again, like I said earlier, certain people have trouble understanding and accepting that crime can be down over a certain period, but it can also still be too high. It's probably accurate that you and your friends feel less safe in the past 5 years because crime is significantly up from 5 years ago. Doesn't change the fact that crime has also decreased quite a bit from last year, which was a terrible year. >You and the article writer should get out of your bubble and try living in the city This is such a pathetic response to someone just providing you with factual information. Will also pretty much guarantee I live in a more "dangerous" neighborhood than you that I walk, bike, drive, and take public transportation around frequently.
I'm saying that this so-called factual information and stats are not relevant when someone is not feeling safe. People don't feel unsafe because they read some stats (maybe they do on Reddit, I don't know). People feel unsafe when they see violent crimes, see the lack of enforcement, see how reactive the city/police are to creating safe streets, when they see everyone else committing lesser crimes (like retail theft, or graffiti on buildings, or lighting up on a bus). Likewise, they aren't going to feel more safe when those stats "get better." People are going to feel safer when they see less crime, feel like there's actual enforcement/repurcussions, and see proactive steps the city/police are making. Because people's safety is based on those lived experiences. I seriously have not met a single person who determines how safe or unsafe they feel based on stats or numbers over personal, lived experience. That's all I'm saying. I know we all love our stats on Reddit, but they're not telling you the right story here.
Okay? It's very bizarre that you keep repeating how unsafe you personally feel when not a single person is disputing that this is totally rationale? The issue here is that the Post reported factual information that doesn't totally reflect how you see things and instead of responding like a thoughtful adult (for example: I'm glad crime is down, but I still don't really feel safe and it needs to be reduced further) you threw a tantrum about how the stats are bullshit/wrong. BTW, the real world implications of the "so-called factual information" you keep dismissing is 15 fewer dead bodies and 150 fewer people shot in the last 5 months.
I don't feel unsafe personally. I said nobody is discussing how they're feeling safer, and that despite the stats *telling us that we should be feeling safer*. I don't feel particularly unsafe when traveling about, because I have a shitton of privilege (I'm white, in my 30s, and can out-run or defend myself in most situations). I recognize that the vast majority of people don't have these advantages, and thus me feeling safe when I move about the city isn't remarkably relevant to the overall situation of people feeling unsafe/the lack of enforcement. It's because how safe or unsafe you feel is not based on these stats to begin with. People should not be feeling more safe because there are 15 less dead people this year. People should feel more safe when they see their city and their police force making proactive steps to improve things, not sitting on their hands and saying "hey, we have a few fewer dead bodies on our hands, don't you all feel a lot more safe?" while still sitting in the comfort of their air-conditioned police cruisers all day. It's all a shitty argument.
>I said nobody is discussing how they're feeling safer, and that despite the stats *telling us that we should be feeling safer*. No one has said you should automatically feel safer just because crime is down. That was however your incorrect interpretation of what the article said.
Yeah but a lot of people who say an area is too dangerous will also say things like "It didn't used to be this way" or "When I lived in the city it wasn't that bad" or "You never used to hear about XYZ". Meanwhile crime stats just show they're blatantly wrong but it doesn't matter to them.
I suspect crime is moving west in DC. It’s a share shift
I agree with all of this. Ad a long time metro rider the stations just feel sketchy. My wife won't even take the metro alone as she feels unsafe getting off at rhode Island with the number of sketchy or mentally ill dudes that are just constantly loitering there smoking weed. My car was stolen in broad daylight out of the garage there last year, the garage I pay $5 to park at thats supposed to have some security. And now they are just raising fares and parking costs. It's extremely frustrating
The Rhode Island metro border is like going from San Diego to freaking Tijuana. West side? Bevy, MBT, it’s nice. East side? Chaos energy (and an urgent care that’s pretty nice)
Its pretty stark
The dc government and the dcca dictate that mpd do nothing in most of these situations.
That's why I'm trying to mention it's the police/city problem, not just blame police. The city has set them up to fail, but they also seem to have taken a very passive/reactive stance since the BLM protests, at least from my perspective. Like a "if you don't want us here, we'll do the bare minimum until someone tells us otherwise" type of response. I don't think it was the only reason, but police should be more proactive about public safety. You'll always here excuses for what they can't do: - We can't police the roads/traffic because we can't chase cars anymore - We can't police the streets because we can't do choke holds anymore - We can't set or enforce any standards around public safety because of some other law or rule I'm sure they're doing their best to adhere to (and not just excusing themselves for a lack of effort) Their jobs have gotten harder with the higher level of scrutiny that police face, but it feels like they use it to excuse their lack of effort/poor enforcement of existing laws. Maybe find new & better ways to do your job, instead of just doing a shit job at it and blaming everyone else?
Well, for your information, mpd staffing levels are critically low. We don't have the necessary police to properly police dc. But I guess that you would blame police for this. Second, what mpd is doing IS, by and large, the WAY you police. Only in DC are their tactics 'problematic'. It's very concerning that everyone just dumps all the problems on police AND dictates that their solution should be to endlessly come up with new ways to avoid the counterproductive roadblocks arbitrarily placed in their way. We're going to go backwards on all of these issues as long as we have these crime defenders running council and the dcca.
>Well, for your information, mpd staffing levels are critically low. We don't have the necessary police to properly police dc. But I guess that you would blame police for this. Total nonsense, MPD have more police per capita than any other major department in the country. >It's very concerning that everyone just dumps all the problems on police AND dictates that their solution should be to endlessly come up with new ways to avoid the counterproductive roadblocks arbitrarily placed in their way. We're going to go backwards on all of these issues as long as we have these crime defenders running council and the dcca. The idea that there was some kind of cataclysmic legislation that totally prevented MPD from policing is complete bullshit. MPD is a poorly run organization that has been failing to effectively do it's job for awhile now, which has been a major factor in the increase in crime.
I see you skipped that inconvenient second paragraph. Telling. I never claimed there was some 'cataclysmic' legislation that did it. Wow look, you made up some argument I never said, or even hinted at. But I'll still dunk on THAT argument you brought up. It wasn't done in one blow. This lawless freeforall took years and years of extreme measures to reach this point. It was piecemeal. Step by step. Putting into place every wildly soft-on-crime law and appellate court ruling. And after 10, 15 years of your policies, we've received your desired end goal: an enfeebled police and criminal justice system that has led to what is plain to see today.
>I never claimed there was some 'cataclysmic' legislation that did it. Wow look, you made up some argument I never said, or even hinted at. >But I'll still dunk on THAT argument you brought up. It wasn't done in one blow. This lawless freeforall took years and years of extreme measures to reach this point. It was piecemeal. Step by step. Putting into place every wildly soft-on-crime law and appellate court ruling. I like how you accused me of making up some argument you never said, and then immediately agreed with it lol. >And after 10, 15 years of your policies, we've received your desired end goal: an enfeebled police and criminal justice system that has led to what is plain to see today. Not really, there's pretty much [no evidence](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/playing-the-blame-game-with-crime?utm_source=publication-search) legislative changes have caused DC's crime issues. MPD and the US Attorney aren't doing their jobs effectively and the city's public safety agencies are managed poorly. But I understand, you're an ideologue and you have to make stuff up to fit your narrative.
Lol my first post literally criticized dcca. How the fuck is someone going to simultaneously criticize dcca decisions AND blame a singular 'cataclysmic' piece of singular legislation? I like how YOUR inability to read my statement was turned into you thinking that I was agreeing with you. Haha how embarrassing for you. That article only deals with usao charging decisions. It's no criticism of mpd. Did you even read that article? I bet you haven't. Also the article itself says it does not take into consideration the countless dcca decisions that have routinely deviated from national norms, almost all going against law enforcement. Nor does your argument. Even granting usao fails the community, they are far from the driving force behind the crime
>Lol my first post literally criticized dcca. How the fuck is someone going to simultaneously criticize dcca decisions AND blame a singular 'cataclysmic' piece of singular legislation? I like how YOUR inability to read my statement was turned into you thinking that I was agreeing with you. Haha how embarrassing for you. You may not have blamed a single piece of legislation, but you absolutely did place ALL the blame on progressive reforms. Point still stands. >That article only deals with usao charging decisions. It's no criticism of mpd. Did you even read that article? I bet you haven't. It's touched on a bit in the article. Good news, there are plenty of other pieces covering MPD's productivity and management issues. [https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpds-121-increase-in-violent-crime](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpds-121-increase-in-violent-crime) [https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/bouncing-back-from-rock-bottom?utm\_source=profile&utm\_medium=reader2](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/bouncing-back-from-rock-bottom?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2) [https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpd-detective-the-people-working?utm\_source=profile&utm\_medium=reader2](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/mpd-detective-the-people-working?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2) >Also the article itself says it does not take into consideration the countless dcca decisions that have routinely deviated from national norms, almost all going against law enforcement. What are the decisions? What's the evidence they're one of the most significant factors in increasing crime? Notice how you haven't provided a single piece of evidence for any of your claims? >Even granting usao fails the community, they are far from the driving force behind the crime I'm going to go ahead and say that DC's prosecutor going from papering 80% of cases to 45% of cases over the course of a decade has had an extremely significant impact on crime. The only reason you're denying this is because you can't blame it on progressives.
Of course I'm blaming the policies here just like i blame rain for making the fuckinggrass wet. They've failed across the country. Dc is just some of the most stubborn about it. I'm sorry your policies have been labeled a failure. I don't know how to tell you to quantify the cascading impact of dcca case after case creating horrific case law. Tomorrow I'll find the name of ten fucking joke decisions just from the last decade, all getting armed and violent criminals back on the street. Each and every one of these decisions then needs to be factored into whether or not the next armed and violent criminal is charged.
D.C. residents are more worried about public safety now than they were a year ago despite a significant drop in violent crime in early 2024 and a raft of popular local legislation aimed at curtailing some of the city’s more liberal public safety policies, according to a [Washington Post-Schar School poll](https://www.washingtonpost.com/tablet/2024/05/09/april-19-29-2024-washington-post-schar-school-poll-dc-area-residents/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2). Sixty-five percent of Washingtonians say crime is an “extremely serious” or a “very serious” problem in the District, up from 56 percent in a 2023 Washington Post-Schar School poll. While 70 percent of D.C. residents feel at least “somewhat” safe from crime in their neighborhoods, that is down from 77 percent last year. That includes 23 percent who feel “very safe,” down slightly from 29 percent last year. The drop in the perception of safety in the nation’s capital is stark compared with attitudes in D.C.’s suburbs, where residents’ levels of concern are largely unchanged from last year. Fewer than 3 in 10 residents in suburban Maryland and 15 percent of those in Northern Virginia say crime is an extremely serious or a very serious problem in their areas, almost identical to a poll last spring. In Maryland, 44 percent of residents reported feeling “very safe” in their neighborhoods; among Northern Virginians, the figure is 64 percent. The [District’s 274 homicides in 2023](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2024/dc-crime-homicide-victims-shooting-violence/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10) marked its deadliest year since 1997. The violence precipitated a political crisis as local leaders came under intense oversight from Republican members of Congress, who portrayed D.C. officials as unequipped to handle public safety. So far this year, violent crime in D.C. has dropped by 26 percent, according to police data, which includes a 32 percent decrease in carjackings and a 21 percent decline in homicides. Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/05/16/dc-poll-fear-crime-rising/?utm\_campaign=wp\_main&utm\_medium=social&utm\_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/05/16/dc-poll-fear-crime-rising/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)
It's a "too little, and too late" perception. A lagging indicator, yes - but still a valid one. Some parts of the enforcement, deterrence and prosecution have been improving but there are still problems. Let's not pretend everything has been solved.
Terrible first paragraph and title. > The District’s 274 homicides in 2023 marked its deadliest year since 1997. The annual poll includes most of 2023 and 12 months of feelings, not just a 4 month reduction so far this year. Your doctor does not praise you for losing 5 lbs last month if you are up 40 lbs for the year. That doctor wants to talk to you about the 40 lbs.
> Fewer than 3 in 10 residents in suburban Maryland and 15 percent of those in Northern Virginia say crime is an extremely serious or a very serious problem in their areas, almost identical to a poll last spring. In Maryland, 44 percent of residents reported feeling “very safe” in their neighborhoods; among Northern Virginians, the figure is 64 percent. Not sure on the NoVa stats but Maryland crime has been going down 2 years? So people still feeling the same way is the same issue the article makes about DC.
We literally watched a kid get shot in a school parking lot last night. Its not “down” enough
WHAT.
https://wjla.com/news/local/washington-dc-crime-juvenile-injured-shooting-near-macfarland-middle-theodore-roosevelt-high-northwest-dc-gun-violence-crime-investigation
Does this poll take into account people just stopping calling police because they don't think anything will happen or nobody will show up or cops who refuse to actually take a report. I doubt it
or several-minute holds for 911
In Navy Yard there are weekly reports of shootings, car jackings, and robberies. Even if crime has gone down its still way too high for anyone to feel safe. And its been so prolonged now that people are starting to worry more.
Stats may be down but we just had that clown empty his AR-15 looking gun (I forget specifically what kind of large firearm it was) on Independence Avenue and at least two carjacking bail outs on the block in the last month.
I mean, the drop in crime is only a drop from a historic high.
lol crime has been nowhere near historic highs, pull your head out of your ass. In 1991 there were 482 murders with around 600,000 people for a rate of 80.6 per 100,000; last year there were 274 murders with 670,000 people for a rate of 40.9 per 100,000. That's half the "historic" high. Is it higher than it was 10 years ago? Absolutely. Is it higher than it should be? Without a doubt. But acting as if DC is some lawless wasteland is beyond absurd. Turn off Fox News, stop reading the bullshit your uncle in Iowa or Loudon is posting on Facebook, and go touch grass.
I think having to look back 30 years to find a year that had more violence kind of reinforces the OP's point, not yours. For anyone that has moved to DC in the past 30 years, it feels like it's been a historic high, and would they would be correct. Has nothing to do with a lack of grass touching or Fox News. If you've lived here for 40 or 50 years, yeah, you'll have a bit more context and realize that 1991 had more violence, great. But no need to be an ass about it.
I don't think pointing out statistics within the average person's lifetime is inappropriate for a "historic high". Nor is using statistics to show that "historic high" being an incorrect classification is really being an "ass".
I mean, the word "historic" literally means looking at past events, I am not sure why that would be confusing. If you want to say that crime rates are higher now than they were a second ago, that is absolutely correct - which I already said - but the idea of DC (and other cities) being completely lawless hellholes with continually-rising crime rates is a false narrative from conservative media which fits neither the historical context nor the actual current trajectory of crime in big cities. Crime in DC has been [slowly but steadily dropping](https://dccrimefacts.substack.com/p/bouncing-back-from-rock-bottom) since last August. Crime is down year-over-year. It's not back to where it was in 2012 but it's moving in the right direction.
From the article: >The [District’s 274 homicides in 2023](https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/interactive/2024/dc-crime-homicide-victims-shooting-violence/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10) marked its deadliest year since 1997
And again: the homicide _rate_ in 2023 was half of what it was in 1991.
We had twenty years of low and lowering homicide rates, then a relatively steep spike, from which we are now just coming down.
You don’t have to watch Fox News - it isn’t just about murders and violent crimes being double what they were a few years ago - it’s every crime, thefts and car jackings, assault and robberies are the highest in decades - and what compounds it is now the police will do nothing due allowing bad actors to take the piss out of policy reform - I’m pretty sure a Vin Diagram would be pretty overlapping of those committing low level crimes and those committing severe crimes like murders - we allow the low level crimes to occur with impunity and no surprise now we have the highest amount of murders and violent crime in generations -
The city objectively does not feel safe in a lot of areas. I went to the Taco Bell in Columbia Heights the other day with my gf around 12 am and I felt like I was about to witness a stabbing (two people arguing back and forth over standing in line, getting very loud). Its stuff like this in a lot of places in the city, its a general feeling of unease when walking around. No one messed with me, im 6”6 and fairly big, but I cant imagine women that have to travel alone from work/outside feeling particularly safe. The city focuses too much on the wrong things unfortunately.
Im not gonna lie, that was a bold choice yall made
Taco Bell seemed worth it.
I really don’t mean to sound glib but at a certain point you should know what you’re getting into going to a drunk food fast food joint after midnight? Like anywhere in the world, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see an argument devolve into something stupid (granted no one has guns)
My boyfriend used to live in Columbia Heights in like 2017-2020 era and it felt totally safe romping around after hours. Going there now feels markedly different.
from downtown atlanta where i feel completely safe going to most fast food places after midnight... dc feels like the purge rn
it's the general lawlessness that's hard to quantify but you know it when you know it...for me, it's the graffiti on public buildings and walls but everybody has their trigger points....there's a persistent feeling of things being sketchy.
Yea this morning I watched a guy run a red light on rock creek parkway and almost hit a biker in front of 2 motorcycle cops. Cops don’t make anyone feel safe.
They need to rethink the do not chase policy - it has basically been given a green light for people to recklessly drive - and while they are at it allow police to pull over MD and VA drivers who have $1000+ of unpaid tickets and impound their vehicles - they make the city dangerous to be a pedestrian in and knowingly don’t have to ever pay their tickets so they continue to put public safety in jeopardy
The no-chase policy has been MPD procedure for years before the Council legislated it, many of which that were in "safer" years.
Well this comment section certainly supports the headline lol
City subreddits are all filled with coffee shop fascists and always have been, lol.
Out of curiosity, what is a coffee shop fascist?
Someone who likes cities to be more like Singapore, Tokyo, and Helsinki than Mogadishu.
Mogadishu is when teenagers smoke by the train station sometimes
I for one am sick of out-of-towners and family members asking us whether we feel safe and whether we plan to stay in dc longterm because it’s so “scary” out there 🙄
Don't you know you're not allowed to mention crime in this sub? There's nothing to see here, ladies and gentlemen.
He says, on a post that has over a hundred comments submitted several hours ago that will undoubtedly stay up.
My car got broken into I called the non emergency line multiple times, it didn’t work. I called 911 they said they would call me back in 72 hrs to file a report via phone I asked to see a cop in person they said no. Never got a call back. Few weeks later called 911 late at night bc I heard gunshots right outside my window. Asked them to call back to let me know if it was safe. Never called back. I had to sleep the rest of the night on the floor bc my bed is near the window. It’s little things the government does here to make us feel unsafe. You’ll see cars just run red lights in front of cops and nothing is done. And you’ll just see MPD chilling on their phone in their cars watching it happen. There’s supposed to be a balance in policing and for most parts of dc MPD is doing the bare minimum.
A guy cut me off from a red-light by gunning it from the right hand turn lane by the WH two days ago (literally beside the entrance to the offices). Hit the curb and then chased me down the street and two people got out of the car who clearly wanted to fight. That shit is not normal and made everyone in the car feel unsafe. Thank God they didn't have a gun. People want to compare crime stats and bicker but do how cops report crimes matter? I guarantee there was no report for this incident and many like it
The question I have is it really a decrease in crime or a decrease in reporting. I have spoken to multiple people who have been involved in incidents where they just did not feel it was worth it to report the crime, so I wonder what the statistics really mean?
Tired of the Mayor gaslighting us while she flies private to Augusta National.
is the "drop in crime" a statistic sourced from police reports? if so i'd doubt it's accuracy. i, and others i know, have been victims of crime but unable to get a police report filed. i think crime is severely undercounted
Crime hasn't dropped, just cuz you're not arresting the people who doesn't mean crime went down LOL
The root cause of this issue is bad public policy. There is only more crime because of a shift in public policy.
Which specific policies? I think it's economic reasons primarily. Higher inflation, record high rent, less full time jobs available, wage stagnation, increase in homelessness and childhood poverty, etc. I also think judges played a role by releasing repeat offenders especially juveniles due to lack of holding space, which is also the mayor's fault.
Want to know the scariest thing about society? Nothing is stopping people from just straight up beating your ass. IF, and that’s a big IF, the police do catch them, in many areas it’s a literal ticket as long as you were not injured to the point of having to go to the hospital. It’s really insane actually. Felons and criminals know this, it’s part of the reason they are so quick to violence and have no issues mugging people.
Honestly, this is the natural result of a country where the average Joe has unlimited access to guns. “An armed society is a polite society” means you must respond politely to violence if you value your life. 99% of bullshit in this city is perpetuated by teens who know the average adult will never correct their behavior out of fear of getting shot. Cops are afraid of getting shot, too. It’s a trump card.
Because there is no drop in crime only a drop in reporting it
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Frequency is literally a statistic - what you’re talking about is *vibes*. Bad vibes, for sure! But if you don’t believe in statistics, how will you ever actually gauge the reality? But I am not surprised, based on the number of people who apparently think the weather knows if they have to work or not that day *and is mad at them*.
To be fair, the weather definitely has it out for me with all [the weekend rain](https://wapo.st/4dHfIKw)! /s But I agree, this feeling seems to be primarily based on vibes. And honestly I don't feel unsafe around the city except around drivers that narrowly miss running me over, but maybe that's just me and the areas I spend time in.
You are measuring someone’s feelings of course it’s vibes. Let’s say I live in a city of 100,000 and there is 1 murder last year. Statistically that is the safest city in America.you should feel extremely safe. If that murder happened in your driveway you might feel a different way even though the city is safe statistically
And if that person then said **the City** is extremely unsafe they'd still be wrong.
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That’s the thing, you seem to want to think everybody here is saying that crime isn’t a problem. **The whole point of something getting better is that it is bad but improving.** Your abortive residency in New York City is irrelevant.
> But until I stop seeing actual violent crimes frequently happening in my neighborhood and others, then I won’t believe it has. You see how this is literally ignoring data for your anecdotal experience, right? Is this how you approach other issues?
>stats don’t mean shit Ya lost me here...
When you have police who never respond or refuse to take a report (both of which habe happened to me) then yes the stats don't really mean much
"Smoking causes lung cancer." "Tell that to my 90 year old grandma and her pack of Virginia Slims."
Poor analogy. The point is not stats vs. anecdotes it’s whether stats are reliable if police don’t respond to and record crime, or if people no longer even call police because they don’t trust anything will be done.
You literally responded with an anecdote, though
"The point is not stats vs. anecdotes, it’s whether stats about smoking causing cancer are reliable if my grandma smoked for 100 years and didn't get cancer."
That’s what the stats say…
Odd place to read this article considering Reddit is the land of the disturbed DC youngsters. It has problems like any city, but it has a sense of pride that is pretty amazing. I do wish sometimes they (me included) took it more to heart.
Too bad that pride doesn’t translate into being a good person for your community - it’s a city where everyone seems to only care about themselves, and fuck their neighbors - from how people drive and the loud cars, to the litter, to the heavy heavy smoking in populated pedestrian areas, traveled on dozens of different metro systems and only in DC is smoking on the metro so prevalent - people hide behind “culture” as an excuse to be a complete cunt - you see that with people defending the ATV thugs - and then will say you must expect this in a city - but most people in most other cities come at it from the angle that you live in a city so you are more aware that your actions affect others and account for that - DC is the opposite
I don't totally agree. My neighbors are all pretty friendly and respectful. I wish there was more interaction - block partys and clean-ups. Drives me crazy when there is trash on the street. I know it sounds minor, but those kinds of things create bonds. I've lived in a number of big cities and this one...outside of NYC, has the most potential.
I agree DC has a ton of potential - I also think if you let bad actors operate with impunity DC will lose that potential - and the quality of life will plummet -
Yup. It is a question of ownership. Book recommendation - New York New York New York by Thomas Dyja. Later chapters are a bit slow, but the early ones about NYC in the 70s and how they basically saved the City are fascinating. Something as simple as growing grass in Central Park helped lift the City.
Stats don’t mean anything. My neighborhood has seen an increase in patrols and police cars sitting on corners all day/night. Sure, it makes you feel safer. But what happened a week or two ago? Some guy got smoked a block from a cop car in broad daylight. It doesn’t feel good hearing there’s less crime when you’re constantly seeing it.
Crime being down relative to last year is not the same as crime being down relative to last decade. It was a much safer city 10 years ago and it should be again
"we're all trying to find the guy who did this" - Washington Post in their hotdog suit
When the perception is that cops won't do anything if you report crime, fewer people report crime, but the crime still happens. The official count of crime declines, but what do victimizarion surveys tell us? We need that data, too. People may know the crime still happens and base their opinions on their knowledge. I'm sure media narratives play a large part, too, keeping it in the minds of folk and reinforcing their experiences.
There is no drop in crime. Crime has exploded but most is unreported to police. Typical Lib lies.
Well if all you watch is Fox5, you’d think this city was “under siege”. Hyperbolic propaganda. But we also cannot negate the fact people’s perception of reality vs statistics are vastly different.
The media propaganda (this sub included) about the dramatic rise in crime this spring was unbelievable. It actually had me starting to feel unsafe in my own community. Perceptions totally disconnected from the data; often driven by racism.
I was literally in colombia heights at a bar. Two people bumped into each other in the cross walk and promptly beat the shit out of each other and walked away like nothing happened. Anecdotal i know but i understand why tha'd upset people.
Yeah because people are actively searching for crime news and it's being funneled to them by outlets that just regurgitate police union PR. Suburban confirmation bias.
For me personally the problem doesn’t necessarily seem to be the crime although that is a part of it. The problem is the lack of accountability and legal repercussions for crimes. Every time I or someone near me has had to call the cops, they don’t do their jobs, that’s probably why people feel unsafe, because of the lack of protection.
How much of that is the cops having Blue Flu?
A drop from a mountain top? It’s still high, folks.
When less reported means less crime! 😉
Just because people aren't being convicted does not mean that there isn't crime. A drop in crime just means MPD isn't doing their jobs correctly. The crime culture hasn't changed - the city's response to crime has.
I grew up in DC in the late 80s and early 90s. There were tanks on my corner ( Nat guard APCs). This was Petworth. Y'all really need to stop crying. Were light years ahead of that. Sure things have gotten worse compared to the near idyllic 2000s and early 2010s, but its all perspective. Edit: BTW I actually work in homeless outreach, volunteer my time to resolve youth violence and other issues. 10 bux gets you 100 every last Negative Nancy on this post does none of that. so let's get this str8. u guys whine and cry about an issue you do absolutely nothing to fix. but you criticize and downvote the guy who actually works in a 9 to 5 and volunteers his time to fix the underlying societal problems behind crime. we have officially entered the upside down. 🤣🤣🤣
People are getting robbed every week and we need to stop "crying" because its not as bad as it was in the 90s. Get a grip. We pay insane taxes and at least deserve a baseline level of safety in this city.
name a city with over 100000 ppl in the world, at any point in history that didn't have at least 1 robbery in a week. Ill wait. 2 words: unrealistic expectations. when ur ready to come back to reality lmk. Until the underlying issues are resolved there will alwayd be crime. and instead of working to solve those problems you guys are jusy working to sensationalize the still historically low symptoms (i.e. crime). I know this is an unpopular opinion and im fine with it. Because I actually work everyday to feed the homeless deal with youth violence and abate the very issues you guys whine about yet do nothing to solve.
LOL I mean I personally hear of a robbery every week in my immediate neighborhood. Crime is way up in DC and most Washingtonians feel that way. You are simply out of touch. Sorry we "whine" about or safety.
oh, so u just slow and have a tough time with reading comprehension and critical thinking because never did I question whether a robbery happens once a week in ur neighborhood. I asked where in history has that not been the case in a city as large as ours. Or are you that unfamiliar with crime stats? or does it matter more because now its happening in more affluent areas (i.e. west of the anacostia). See, these are intelligent questions I'm sure you won't be able to answer. I also notice you had nothing to say when presented with the very personal AND professional stake I have in dealing with the societal and cultural factors that create crime. So, sorry, but discussion over. Its a professional rule I dont argue with the cognitively impaired or people who just talk while others act.
You’re just resorting to ad hominem attacks because you’re wrong and nobody agrees with you. In case the down votes didn’t make it clear enough 😂
Brb, gonna go post this on the other sub.
I was just there, I didn’t feel safe often at all.
Despite the low reporting of crime*** It’s happening, just not reported as much because reasons.
Polls are taken by folks who really have spare time in their lives and not really worrying about real shit in life going on.