I have reported today on a number of positive trends in the MPD’s performance in recent years. I want to close my testimony by trying to put these trends into a broader context.

 

Three years ago a few DC government agencies – including the MPD – were asked to launch a “benchmarking” effort to assist in the budget development process. The goal was to inform decision-makers about how well agencies are operating and to identify areas in need of improvement, by comparing agency results with those of comparable jurisdictions. Our Department developed a comprehensive methodology to select seven jurisdictions that are similar to DC in terms of demographic, socio-economic and law enforcement agency characteristics. Based on this analysis, seven jurisdictions were found to be the most similar to DC: they are Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Newark, Oakland and Philadelphia. Staff has been tracking our Department’s performance in several key areas against the results in these comparable cities.

 

And the findings have been very encouraging. Between 2002 and 2004, DC experienced sharp reductions in both violent and property crime rates. In the benchmark cities, the trend was either uneven or not nearly as dramatic as in DC. In 2002, both our violent and property crime rates were second highest among the benchmark cities (Baltimore had the highest rates). By 2004, both our violent and property crime rates were below the average for all of the benchmark cities. Our property crime rate in 2004 was second lowest, behind only Philadelphia. We found similarly positive trends in our homicide clearance rate, which exceeded the benchmark average in 2004, and in the rate of intentional firearm discharges by officers.

 

What the benchmarking analysis demonstrates is that not only has the our Department and our city made significant progress in reducing crime and improving critical police services – these improvements cannot be explained simply by general changes or trends that are affecting all cities. When it comes to public safety, we are doing some things very well here in the District of Columbia, and we have the results to show for our efforts. All of us – our elected leaders, our police officers and the communities we serve – can be proud of what we have accomplished, working together.

 

Thank you.  My staff and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.