United States of America, Washington DC
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General Overview of Citizen Security In Washington, DC
During the 1990s Washington, DC used to be one of the most violent cities in the United States. Since 1996, levels of crime and violence have been steadily going down. Still, in 2005 when the levels were half what they were in 1996, D.C. was the sixth most dangerous city in the United States[1]. Fortunately this is no longer true. According to statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), the most dangerous area in the District is the third district and the least dangerous is the second district. Still the district is not free of crime and some types of crime, such as robberies, burglaries and car thefts, have increased in recent years. This is partially due to budget pressures arising from decline in tax revenues collected by the local government[2].
Despite its high levels of violence, D.C. had a long-standing Gun Ban law. In a recent ruling, on March 18th, 2008 the District Supreme Court overruled the law arguing that it infringes in the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. On June 26th the Federal Supreme Court followed suit. In DC v/s Heller, five of the nine justices ruled that the right to bear arms is an individual right while still allowing some restrictions on gun ownership. Since 1976, the law banned handgun ownership and required that other firearms be kept disassembled or with trigger locks on.
In February 2001 the MPDC conducted a survey with persons who reported being victims of crime. The results of the survey showed that most victims were satisfied with the services received from the MPDC officers. The areas of improvement are - informing victims of their rights and entitlements, offering crime prevention information and providing referral information about other agencies that can assist them[3].
The MPDC has several successful initiatives to fight Crime and Violence. Among them the Youth Gun Interdiction Initiative which ensures that juveniles do not have illegal access to guns; Project Safe Streets D.C. which links "federal, state and local law enforcement, prosecutors, and community leaders, so as to provide a multi-faceted approach to prosecuting and deterring gun crime"[4]; and Gun-buy-back initiatives are a few of these initiatives.
Several governmental and non-governmental institutions in D.C. have developed Crime Maps and several data tools to graph statistics on crime. Among them are the Washington Post crime news, which allows you to search recent crimes by zip code and the Crime in DC, which allows graphs to be made on the level of different types of crime over a period of days and offers a "google map" plot of crimes in the city, with brief descriptions of each incident. Their information comes from the Metropolitan Police Department.
The many successful Public Security initiatives on the part of the district government in addition to abundant and very up-to-date information on dangerous zones, has resulted in a safer District of Columbia. Public Security is both preventive, by letting the population know places they should avoid, and reactive by encouraging citizens to report crime. Although it is still not free of crime and the rise in theft is worrisome, DC is no longer one of the most violent cities in the country.
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1. http://www.securityworld.com/ia-442-2005-most-dangerous-cities-to-live-in.aspx
2. Major Crimes In U.S. Increase: 2001 Rise Follows 9 Years of Decline By Dan Eggen, Washington Post, Sunday 23 June 2002; Page A01 http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45/328.html
3. Mpdc. Report on Survey of Crime Victims in Washington, DC. Washington: Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia, 2001.
4. Fact Sheet: Project Safe Neighborhoods: America's Network Against Gun Violence . USDOJ. SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/September/07_ag_723.html
Last Update: june 29, 2008