Last year the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) declined to prosecute 33% of MPD's arrests for illegal gun possession.

This was as high as 40-41% in Wards 4 & 7 and as low as 25-27% in Wards 2 & 3.

Lower declination rates in the wealthiest wards.

scdc.dc.gov/sites/default/…

Here is what happens after MPD arrests an adult for a felony in DC.

The US Attorney's Office (USAO) declines to prosecute 34% of the cases & the suspect is released.

Another 13% of felony arrests are charged at first but then dropped by the USAO.

scdc.dc.gov/sites/default/…

In DC the United States Attorney's Office plea bargains 50% of all illegal gun convictions down to MISDEMEANORS ONLY.

USA Graves whines all the time about DC's laws not imposing long enough sentences while his own prosecutors let illegal gun charges plea down to misdemeanors.

Behold the power of public pressure. From 2022 to 2023 the USAO increased its prosecution rate for felonies from 54% to 66% after decreasing for years.

We still have room to improve but this shows that pressure on the USAO got results.

scdc.dc.gov/sites/default/…

Almost half of the USAO's convictions for ADW & Robbery were for the lesser 'attempted' form of the crime that carries a much shorter sentence.

Note also how there were 'only seven adult carjacking counts sentenced in 2023' reflecting plea bargaining to lesser charges.

The collapse in felony drug convictions (which was exacerbated by the crime lab losing accreditation) has been great for DC's gangs/crews who are 'heavily engaged in narcotics sales.'

These same groups are responsible for most of DC's gun violence.

scdc.dc.gov/sites/default/…

The USAO is securing felony convictions at a much lower rate than pre-COVID.

This reflects overall lower prosecution volumes (not charging in the first place) & an apparent increase in dropping or pleading down cases to misdemeanors.

This undermines the USAO's media spin.

The only USAO DC jobs that are posted are explicitly uncompensated $0 salary jobs.

This adds credence to the rumors that there is a de facto hiring freeze at the USAO DC.

This is for the 'Misdemeanor and Domestic Violence-Misdemeanor Sections.'

usajobs.gov/search/results…

Another suspect arrested for allegedly stealing from a CVS where the USAO has not filed charges in DC Superior Court.

In past years the USAO declined to prosecute as many as 60% of MPD's arrests for theft & last year they still declined 43%.

A huge share of DC's shootings & homicides involve members of gangs shooting at each other & sometimes killing bystanders.

The apparent lack of gang busts since the Kennedy Street Crew indictment 10 months ago raises questions about the Feds' efforts.

cjcc.dc.gov/sites/default/…

There's a pretty misleading DC crime graph floating around.

For instance it shows a big increase in Assaults with a Dangerous Weapon from 2018 to 2019; when in reality they fell from 1,664 to 1,569.

Always check crimecards.dc.gov for crime data.

This is a good, nuanced view of violence in DC. It's important to recognize both the ongoing violence as well as the improvement over the past several months.

The good news is that the 2023-2024 school year started with lower rates of chronic absenteeism than the previous year.

Unfortunately there was less improvement among high-schoolers where 45% of students are still chronically absent.

osse.dc.gov/sites/default/…

This appears to be another case of an argument turning deadly because one of the people was armed with a gun.

Also note how one witness feared retaliation for speaking with police.

Eyewitnesses & video evidence helped MPD identify the suspect.

After some good weeks the most recent 911 call data shows big decreases in performance:

- Hundreds of people hanging up after being left waiting for a response
- 62%-65% of calls being answered within 15 seconds...vs. a standard of 90%

ouc.dc.gov/page/911-perfo…

This group of juvenile suspects went viral when videos of their alleged offenses were posted online.

MPD was able to identify several of these suspects & have made 5 arrests so far.

Since they are juvenile suspects we don't have visibility into how they are being prosecuted.

Good work by MPD to quickly make an arrest.

No public records of prior arrests of this suspect other than possibly 1 misdemeanor back in 1997.

This kind of workplace violence (especially with a knife rather than a gun) is incredibly hard to prevent.