Crimes against persons and property—or total Part I offenses—increased by 11.6 percent in metropolitan Washington between 2021 and 2022, according to the Annual Report on Crime and Crime Control. The uptick can be mostly attributed to a 13.2 percent increase in overall property crime, while violent crime increased by a narrower margin at 1.6 percent. According to the report, the property crime spike was due to a 17.1 percent rise in motor vehicle thefts and a 13.2 percent increase in larceny.
The report, presented today to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ (COG) Board of Directors, was part of a broader discussion about crime trends and regional law enforcement initiatives involving coordination across local, state, and federal agencies.
“Through this data-driven analysis, police chiefs can learn from various law enforcement agencies and gain a comprehensive understanding of the regional trends, enabling us to develop solutions for our local challenges,” said COG Police Chiefs Committee Chair Russell E. Hamill. “Auto thefts is a trend affecting all jurisdictions, and with a collective approach through regional law enforcement initiatives, we can tackle property crime more effectively.”
In addition to the crime data, the report also documented various regional law enforcement initiatives to reduce crimes associated with vehicles, such as thefts, including the Metropolitan Police Department’s Carjacking Task Force, the Fairfax County Police Department’s (FCPD) Auto Crime Enforcement (ACE) Unit, and the Washington Area Vehicle Enforcement Unit (W.A.V.E.), which was established by the Prince George’s County Police Department to reduce large scale auto theft organizations. The report noted that in 2022, the new ACE unit recovered 90 stolen vehicles and 6 carjacked vehicles, while the W.A.V.E. unit recovered 278 vehicles.
In addition, the report noted a regional partnership focused on “exhibition driving.” The Safe Roads Task Force helps 28 participating area law enforcement and intelligence agencies share information and take action to track and prevent dangerous driving events that occur across the region. Officials collaborated and responded to 102 major illegal events in 2022.
As detailed in the report, all of these initiatives leverage regional information sharing and coordination to focus mitigation efforts on crimes that are seeing the largest upticks regionwide. The Police Chiefs Committee is also working on public outreach strategies to inform community members on vehicle theft prevention. Some local jurisdictions have already hosted community events in collaboration with local businesses to offer free catalytic converter etching, distribution of wheel locks, and education on how to protect property and prevent theft.
Data for the crime report is collected and analyzed by the COG Police Chiefs Committee and Police Investigative Commanders Subcommittee. The report was based on crime incidents reported by law enforcement agencies from across the region for 2022.
MORE: Annual Report on Crime and Crime Control