Crime in DC is Down But Problems Persist

This coming Saturday will mark 8 months since President Trump announced a public safety emergency in Washington, DC. As every news outlet in the country repeated that crime in DC was down, Trump sent in federal agents and National Guard members with the intent of seeing the numbers drop even more.

So far it seems to be working out pretty well. The Washington Post reports today that crime is down compared to this time last year.

Violent crime plummeted by nearly 30 percent last year and has dropped further since January, D.C. police data shows. Homicides are down 68 percent compared with this time last year.

DC publishes the crime statistics daily so you can see all the numbers here. Again, it hasn’t been a full year since Trump intervened (August 25, 2025) but compared to last April things look pretty good. Homicides are down 68% which is more than double the 32% drop DC saw in calendar year 2025. In fact, there have only been 12 murders so far this year. If that pace were to continue (homicides usually go up in the summer), DC could have the first year with under 100 homicides since 2012.

And that’s not all. Sex-abuse is down 55%. Robbery is down 24%. Overall violent crime is only down 9% thanks to an increase in assaults with a deadly weapon. Non-violent crime is also down sharply with burglary down 26% and vehicle thefts down 57%. Overall property crime is down 28%.

And yet, there are still signs of trouble, especially among the city’s young people. In an effort to diminish the number of street takeovers, the city hosted a youth party last Saturday. The event itself went off pretty well but fights broke out just outside and 8 teens were arrested, the youngest was just 12-years-old.

The incidents occurred Saturday night near the King Greenleaf Recreation Center, where the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation hosted a gathering intended to provide teens with a safe, supervised environment.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, eight teens were arrested in connection with the disturbances. While the event itself remained calm, witnesses reported several fights had erupted outside the facility, both on nearby streets and along the perimeter of the property…

Neighbors described chaotic scenes in the surrounding area.

“They was fighting in the street, in the middle of the street,” said Carol Muldrow. “They just jumped off the bikes and just start fighting.”

Best I can tell, this wasn’t recorded outside the party but it happened the same night somewhere nearby.

Mob of teens in Southwest D.C. went absolutely wild on Saturday night.

You can see chasing that led to fists flying (00:25). Then after the initial fighting, you see police arrive (00:52). Things look to be calming down but then all hell breaks loose (02:06). Police then… pic.twitter.com/xju393vQ1Y

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) April 6, 2026

All of this is happening as the city debates whether to extend city curfews for teens which are set to expire next week. DC has an 11 pm curfew law for the whole city which will not expire. The extra curfew under debate is put in place in certain areas by police and restricts teens being in groups anytime after 8pm. Mayor Bowser accused DC City Council members who put off a vote on the early curfew of being soft on crime.

All of this comes on the heels of a vote by the D.C. Council to delay a vote to extend the police chief’s authority to implement the curfew zones for another three months.

The current order is expected to expire April 15.

“It was a decision by the council as a whole. The chairman moved for postponement, and all of the council members agreed, and that is, in essence, killing the youth curfew,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “[…] So the council will say, ‘Oh, we drove crime down, so let’s start going back to soft on crime policies.’”

Given that crime is down you would think it would be obvious that DC should keep doing what is working. On the other hand, it’s not clear that police are really making use of the extra curfew.

If there is a violation, the usual outcome is simple. The teen is taken to a police station or designated area, and a parent or guardian is called to pick them up.

Last year, there were 279 curfew violations and zero arrests in the curfew zones. This year, there has been just one reported curfew violation, and again, no arrests.

Is no one violating the curfew or have police just stopped enforcing it. If it’s the latter, then letting it lapse probably won’t matter much.

In a few more months we’ll be able to see what the crime numbers look like for an entire year since Trump’s crime emergency. I’m guessing those numbers are going to look pretty good, which is why you probably won’t hear much about it in the national news.

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