From Roll Call; subscription required:
Capitol Hill Crime Down, but Muggings Don’t Slow
June 16, 2009, By Emily Yehle, Roll Call Staff
Capitol Hill’s crime rate has improved consistently over the past few years, inching downward with each newly renovated row house and revitalized neighborhood.
But there’s one crime residents can’t seem to shake: muggings.
In the 1st district * which includes Capitol Hill and sections of downtown * the number of “robberies excluding guns” increased by 8 percent in the first six and a half months of 2009 compared with the same period in 2008. That number is worse in some Capitol Hill neighborhoods.
The Police Service Area that encompasses Eastern Market, for example, has seen an increase of 23 percent. That number skyrockets to 540 percent (from five muggings to 32) if comparing the past 30 days to the same period last year.
Read more at www.rollcall.com.
Have you noticed more street-crime this spring? What are the boundaries of “safe Capitol Hill” – or are there any?