Last year, 203 people lost their lives to senseless violence in our city. That’s 203 too many, period. Over and over, we see people turning to illegal guns to commit acts of violence. It is completely unacceptable, and it must stop now.
Gun violence is an epidemic that is tearing life from our city. What’s left behind are the countless friends and family members whose lives have been forever changed.
Although one crime is too many, we saw an overall decrease in crime in 2022. Washington D.C. saw a 7% reduction in violent crimes and a 3% reduction in property crimes when compared to 2021. However, we know that those statistics do not bring comfort to the family members of the crime victims in 2022. It is up to all of us, as we start 2023, to do everything in our power to continue the downward trend of violence in the District of Columbia.
Our officers show up every day and work hard to prevent crime. MPD will not rest until we hold violent offenders accountable for choosing to cause harm in our communities.
- Our detectives are working tirelessly to investigate every crime and bring justice to the families of victims.
- Our officers continue to proactively take a record number of illegal guns off the street, at an average of eight to nine guns each day in 2022.
- MPD continues to utilize an intelligence-led policing strategy, along with our local and federal partners, to target individuals that we know are committing acts of violence.
- The department is utilizing data-driven deployment strategies to supplement areas of the city that are experiencing higher volumes of criminal activity and emerging crime trends.
- We’re focused on community policing and building bridges in every neighborhood to stop violence from even occurring in the first place.
But our most powerful tool in combating violence in our neighborhoods and solving crimes is you — our community. We can’t do this alone. In every incident, someone knows something. It might seem like something small, but that information could be a piece of the puzzle that helps our detectives solve cases and bring justice to loved ones of victims.
We all have the opportunity to continue the downward trend of crime in our neighborhoods and hold people accountable.
Together, we can put an end to the violence in our communities.
Robert J. Contee III
Chief of Police
Metropolitan Police Department