The District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute released an fascinating map yesterday that details crime levels for each census block in the city. Above is a detail of the map showing Georgetown. The darker areas correlate to the higher crime areas.
Unsurprisingly, crime in Georgetown occurs most along the commercial corridors. One thing that immediately jumps out is that the campus of Georgetown University has the highest crime rating. But once you dig into it a little it makes sense. The black areas are blocks with 25 crimes or more per year. Since Georgetown University is once big census block, 25 crimes spread out over a large campus of several thousand for a whole year doesn’t sound so bad.
Here’s what Georgetown looks like compared to the rest of the city:
Not as bad as some, but not exactly on the crime-free end of the spectrum. But really, this map is only so useful. Census blocks are not uniform in size or population. Many of the darkest blocks are like GU, large numbers that are bad only because the block is so large. A more interesting map would be one that shows the crime per capita. GM tried to do just that a while back, which showed how our crime numbers compare to other neighborhoods:
| Burglaries Per 1000 Residents | |
| Georgetown | 4.2 |
| Dupont | 3.4 |
| W/GP/CP | 1.6 |
| MP | 2.4 |
| Col. Heig. | 3.7 |
| Palis. | 0.7 |
| Theft F/Auto Per 1000 Residents | |
| Georgetown | 19.6 |
| Dupont | 6.7 |
| W/GP/CP | 5.3 |
| MP | 8.9 |
| Col. Heig. | 11.4 |
| Palis. | 4.4 |
| ADW Per 1000 Residents | |
| Georgetown | 1.7 |
| Dupont | 1.3 |
| W/GP/CP | 0.3 |
| MP | 0.5 |
| Col. Heig. | 3.5 |
| Palis. | 0.1 |
| Stolen Auto Per 1000 Residents | |
| Georgetown | 1.3 |
| Dupont | 3.2 |
| W/GP/CP | 1.0 |
| MP | 1.8 |
| Col. Heig. | 3.9 |
| Palis. | 0.7 |
| Robberies Per 1000 Residents | |
| Georgetown | 1.9 |
| Dupont | 4.5 |
| W/GP/CP | 0.6 |
| MP | 2.6 |
| Col. Heig. | 6.5 |
| Palis. | 0.4 |
| Sex Abuse Per 100,000 Residents | |
| Georgetown | 13 |
| Dupont | 9 |
| W/GP/CP | 3 |
| MP | 17 |
| Col. Heig. | 38 |
| Palis. | 5 |
“25 or more” means that there are 25 or more crimes. GU campus has 25 crimes in one month only!
Please keep in mind that DPS handles most of the crime on Georgetown University campus, which most all are not reported to the MPD. In the first ten days of November, DPS reports 26 crimes occurring on campus. https://gushare.georgetown.edu/vj29/Verian%27s%20Uploads/Daily%20Crime%20Log.pdf
Also, many other nuisance crimes are not reported at all, such as destruction of property. These are not as serious as crimes as robberies etc.. but they do make it difficult for a family environment that R-3 Zoning is intended for.