Metropolitan Police Department: Public Oversight Roundtable on Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Closure Rate

Committee on the Judiciary
Kathleen Patterson, Chair
Council of the District of Columbia

Testimony of Chief Charles H. Ramsey
Metropolitan Police Department

Madame chair, members of the Committee and guests—thank you for the opportunity to update you on homicide trends in the District of Columbia and to outline for you the Metropolitan Police Department's efforts to reduce homicides and improve our clearance rate.

For the Committee's information - In addition to my testimony this morning, MPDC officials will be attending the second part of the public roundtable this evening. Just as we did at the recent town hall meeting on homicides sponsored by WOL radio, our Department will have command representatives from each police district and each Regional Operations Command to listen to the public's testimony. These officials will be available to take more detailed information about specific cases from witnesses or other members of the public who attend. And, just as we are doing with the witnesses from the previous town hall meeting, we will follow up on each and every case presented to us this evening. So we appreciate the opportunity to once again hear directly from the community on this important matter.

I also appreciate the opportunity to be the lead-off witness this morning, because I think it is important that we put the whole matter of homicide investigations and closures into a broader context. Specifically, I want to call to the Committee's attention two key trends that really define the homicide picture in the District.

The first is the dramatic reduction in the number of killings in our city over the last decade. The second is the changing nature of the homicides that are occurring and the impact this is having on investigations and closures.

The District of Columbia recorded 237 homicides last year, our lowest total since 1987. The year 2000 was the fourth consecutive year in which homicides declined in our city. And since 1991, when there were 482 murders in the District, the number of killings has been cut by more than 50 percent.

There are probably any number of reasons for this dramatic reduction: a better economy, lower unemployment, fewer people in the "crime-prone" age groups, changes in drug abuse and trafficking patterns and, certainly, more effective policing that deals with neighborhood crime and disorder problems before they turn violent or lethal. Regardless of the exact combination of factors, the bottom line is that we have made significant progress in bringing down the District's homicide rate from the intolerably high levels of a decade ago.

Washington, DC, is still far too violent for a city of this size and stature. That is why a top priority of our department remains the prevention of crime—including the prevention of homicides. Every time our Department has to open a new homicide investigation, we have, in effect, lost the most important battle—the battle to save another human being's life.

Compared with a decade ago, we are saving nearly 250 lives a year in the District. But I will not rest until the number of lives saved is much, much higher.

Of course, to the surviving family members and friends of homicide victims, all the statistics in the world are meaningless when a loved one has been killed. That is why, in addition to focusing on homicide prevention, our Department is instituting a number of reforms to improve criminal investigations and close more cases. We owe the survivors of homicide nothing less than the best, most thorough and professional effort when it comes to bringing some closure to their personal ordeal. Unfortunately, our Department, going back many years, has not always met that standard.