Monday, January 3, 2011

DC murders down

According to the Washington Times, there were 131 homicides in the District in 2010, down nine percent from last year. It’s the lowest number of slayings since 1963.
While I'm reluctant to give quarter to DC's Police Chief or her insane crime lowering ideas, her reasoning on the tip line and community intel seem logical. Until there's some bona fide evidence that gunshot detectors do anything but cost a fortune, I'll dismiss the technology part on its face, and note that Chief Lanier made no mention of the hard work and long hours that DC cops put in to lower that homicide number. Shame on her.

The Times reports that it is the second straight year that homicides have declined in the city and the seventh time in 10 years that the nation’s capital has recorded fewer than 200 homicides.
Hold the phones!! Did that just say the second straight year? As if homicides have declined in two years instead of jumping up? I could have sworn I heard predictions about all the shootings, blood in the streets, and mass chaos that would surely stem from the Heller decision.

Who would have known that ordinary human beings could behave themselves?

Well, maybe not these guys; but it seems that the general population doesn't strike the notion to go out on a killing spree that day just because they have a Mossberg in the closet.

1 comment:

Boomhauer said...

"While I'm reluctant to give quarter to DC's Police Chief or her insane crime lowering ideas, her reasoning on the tip line and community intel seem logical."

Most of them are pretty logical. If there was an actual juvenile jail and a real juvenile system to handle offenders, we'd have closer to 100 murders.

"Until there's some bona fide evidence that gunshot detectors do anything but cost a fortune, I'll dismiss the technology part on its face"

The cameras are useless as far as I can tell. The ShotSpotters don't solve crimes on their own, but they do help pinpoint the exact address of gunfire and help shave the response time, especially to genuine shooting incidents in the back alleys and times where people aren't awake and watching street activity. Is it worth what they pay? I'd say go ahead and keep it. At least it produces some tangible results.