Wednesday night local Fox news anchor Will Thomas was mugged at gunpoint at Wisconsin and N. Thomas gave up his wallet and was physically unharmed by the assailant.
Within a day of this unfortunate event, GM penned a rebuttal to Harry Jaffe’s missive on the supposed increase in assaults with a deadly weapon across the Second Police District. But what about muggings? Is Thomas’ mugging part of a spike?
No.
As of this time last year Georgetown had experienced 39 robberies. This year that number is 37. In fact, if we keep at this pace, Georgetown will experience the fewest muggings in over four years:
The 2009 stats have been steadily close to but slightly higher than the 2008 stats. That is at least until October when the 2009 numbers leveled off and fell behind the 2008 stats. Both years were significantly below 2006 and 2007.
None of this is to diminish the trauma of each of those 37 people mugged this year, including Thomas. As ANC Commissioner Ed Solomon frequently states “when you’re the victim of a crime, it’s a crime spree to you.” But we should all be happy that the crime numbers are so low.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Fifteen years ago I was mugged at gunpoint on N between Potomac and Wisconsin about 10 pm. It was a weeknight. I gave a full report to the police.
A few months later, a friend who worked in the district office checked the files regarding my report. It wasn’t there, no one had filed it. He commented that there was a not so subtle pressure to keep the number of incidents down, and where no one was actually injured, reports often “got lost.”
So beware of “statistics.”
I agree there is always a risk of the cops gaming the numbers. But it’s the best we’ve got. While not perfect, the stats are more reliable than anecdotes. The one assumption I go on is that the “standard of error,” so to speak, is relatively consistent year to year. So in that sense they’re useful to compare the change in the crime rate over time. But I agree that they are not perfect, particularly for lower level crimes like theft or car break-ins, which often go unreported.
One more thing, with online crime reports nowadays, it wouldn’t take a friend in the District to find out your crime wasn’t reported. Hopefully people are alert to whether their incidents are showing up in the reports.
muggings suck.
but so does Fox News.
my stomach turns as I type the word “news” in conjunction with “fox”
Gwadzilla, Mr. Thomas works for the local Fox Network tv station, Channel 5, not FoxNews on cable. He along with Sue Palka, Shawn Yancy, Tony Perkins, Karen Gray Houston, John Henrehan, and many others are not only journalists covering local news, sports, and weather for the metropolitan area, but give a great deal back to the community. I have never detected any kind of bias, one way or the other, in their reporting – as opposed to FoxNews.
More’s the point, regardless of who he is or where he works, being robbed at gunpoint should not happen to anyone.
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I can’t stand Will Thomas! little beady eyes arrogant brat.
Dan,
I’ve met Mr. Thomas at one of the kidney functions he annually hosts in honor of his mother who is a transplant survivor.
He certainly does not have beady eyes and he is hardly a brat.
I find it very sad you would leave such a ridiculous comment connected to a serious story in which he was the victim of a crime.
God bless you Dan.
Becky