Homicide Watch D.C. has compiled a database of D.C.’s homicides this year using Metro Police Department and FBI press releases as well as press reports. The second page of the database pulls homicide data from OCTO, D.C.’s office of technology. We’ve spent the better part of a week reconciling the two different spreadsheets. As you’ll see, OCTO reports 131 homicides– the same number used by Metro Police in their most recent homicide count. In a search of public documents, however, we found 113 homicides and we have not been able to determine the status of the 18 homicides reported by OCTO that have not been reported by Metro Police or the press.

A quick count of the press releases on MPD's website backed up Homicide Watch's theory the numbers didn't add up. Homicides usually earn an announcement by the department. Often, MPD will ask for the public's help solving the case, so the idea of 18 slayings falling through the cracks is a big deal.

The obvious conclusion was that the discrepancy was the product of a typo: The homicide tally on the MPD crime stats website was meant to read 113. But, when contacted, MPD argued that wasn't the case. "We wouldn't make a mistake like that," rebuffs Chief Cathy Lanier in an e-mail to City Desk. "It is 131."

Likely, Lanier wants the number to be firm for two reasons. First, she doesn't want to leave the impression that MPD would make a careless mistake about the number of D.C. homicides. Second, unless there's a significant uptick in murders between now and Jan. 1, the city is set to have its lowest number of homicides in decades. That means bragging rights and good press. Questions about the accuracy of the stats could sabotage that outcome.

When last year's low homicide rate was determined, Lanier said she couldn't be more pleased with the department, boasting the department's "intelligence-driven community policing."A typo could give ammunition to critics like police union head Kris Baumann, who have long asserted that MPD fudges its crime numbers.

MPD spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump says the department has looked into the puzzle, and found the missing press releases. They were issued but didn't end up on the website, she explains via e-mail. "Our website has been updated. Thanks for bringing this to our attention." Crump did not immediately respond to questions about which homicides in particular fell into an information black hole.

Of course, the only good homicide rate is a no-homicide rate. Though 131 homicides is far better compared to the 479 murders the city recorded in 1991, when the crack epidemic fueled violence in the city.

Maybe our earthquake wasn't quite as dramatic as the 2001 Nisqually earthquake in Seattle.

Morning, readers. Let us celebrate the fact that Friday is upon us.

That wasn't a rumble in your stomach this morning: That was an earthquake. The 3.6 magnitude quake struck at 5:04 a.m., and its epicenter was in the Germantown-Gaithersburg area. The quake was the largest to hit the area since the U.S. Geological Survey created a database to record such activity in 1974. Folks from as far away as New York and Georgia reported the quake to the USGS.

As if traveling isn't inherently stressful enough. A power outage yesterday at Reagan National Airport, caused by a fire at an electrical substation near the headquarters of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, delayed 20 percent of flights at the airport for most of the day. It's the third power outage at Reagan this year.

Homicides in D.C. in 2009 dropped by nearly 25 percent from 2008. The District experienced a reduction of all violent crime, a trend the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments attributes to new technology and better inter-jurisdiction sharing of information. Whadayathink the chances are that Fenty is going to try to use this to his advantage in his re-election bid?

Bad news for those of you looking forward to seeing 'Dreamgirls' at the National Theatre in two weeks: Producers have canceled the D.C. leg of the tour due to disappointing ticket sales. The production, which opened at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem last November, is still slated to make stops in San Francisco, Memphis, and Miami through the end of the year.

Photo: washington.edu

In late August, the Examiner published a piece arguing that the District's low homicide rate might be due to the cooler-than-usual summer temps. The story was one of the dumbest crime stories we've ever read. Even D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier called the lower-temp theory "idiotic." But the story did at least provoke a little attention on the police department's stunning successes and the city's big drop in murders. When Lanier speculated that the city could see fewer than 100 homicides for the year, she wasn't laughed out of town. Of course, the District's perps did not cooperate.

As of today, there have been 106 homicides. At this point last year, there were 148 homicides. The plummeting homicide rate is still quite impressive. So why is the District experiencing such a huge drop?

In September, Lanier may have squandered some goodwill by stubbornly sticking by and fighting for her All Hands On Deck program. She would do well to let that program drop. It is certainly not worth the money and the on-going petty court fight. In talking with police brass about the drop in homicides, no one mentioned AHOD is a factor. Lanier has initiated a number of other crime-fighting strategies that have both paid off and netted support from the rank-and-file.

Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, who is in charge of the Investigative Services Bureau, attributes the homicide drop to a series of Lanier-endorsed initiatives from IT upgrades to personnel moves to a push to investigate not only fatal shootings but non-fatal shootings. "One thing [detectives] are trying to focus on is shootings that don't result in homicides," Newsham explains, "trying to ID [the perp] even when nobody is struck, what the cause of the shooting was, where the victims are from, what types of associations [they may have]."

Sounds of gunshots actually gets a serious response from police. "Even if they don't find anything, we still track that," says Lt. Wilfredo Manlapaz of the homicide branch. "We look at that—especially the chief and patrol commanders. They may deploy officers there to find out if it's true, call intelligence officers out there to find out if there is some type of crew beef. If there's a known crew out there, based on that, who do we know that's beefing and having a problem with this crew?"

This past Friday night's double shooting at 13th and W Streets NW backs up this claim. Two men were shot. Both would survive their injuries. Despite their relatively minor wounds, the police were out in force guarding the crime scene as well as trying to track down the three suspects. A police helicopter roared overhead. Near the crime scene, one man was cuffed and interrogated. Detectives could also be seen interviewing potential witnesses, fanning flash lights on the pavement looking for shell casings, and patrolling nearby alleys.

The police presence was overwhelming. At one point, a detective hollered at a dude for leaning on an unmarked police car. She even got in his face about it. Talk about zero tolerance.

The other big factor Newsham cited was Lanier's push to get homicide detectives and beat cops to share information. "The street officers know more than we do," explains Manlapaz. "They are out there every day. We aren't confined to specific beats. We aren't familiar with the people in the neighborhood."

Manlapaz says the detective-patrol-cop cooperation came into play in a December '08  stabbing death on 14th Street in Columbia Heights. The beat cops knew the victim, knew people who may have been involved and had pictures of the possible perps. Manlapaz says he put the beat cops with the intelligence unit and the detectives.

Manlapaz continues: "It involved gang members and this came into play.... We got the nicknames from the community and passed them on to the gang unit. The beat officers knew the names already and had information—I know that person, I know where they live, as a matter of fact I just saw them. The intelligence unit knew all of them. They went out and picked them up for us so we could interview them."

Manlapaz says the case soon was closed with two men arrested. "We were able to piece together what happened, why it happened, and locate the suspects quickly."

Lanier has heavily promoted and helped ease beat-cop-detective communications. How? Through roll calls, crime briefings and quarterly homicide meetings where detectives present cases to District Commanders, PSA supervisors, vice units, and selected patrol officers.  Lanier has also initiated an emergency session or two when there's been an uptick in violence.

In May, there had been three homicides within a few blocks, Manlapaz says. Lanier called a special meeting to discuss these cases. She brought "everybody together, anybody that could potentially assist with the cases."

Assistant Chief Diane Groomes confirms this new approach. "Anytime there is a spree of violence, pattern of violence not only to include homicides but carjackings/robberies—we gather the important segments together to listen to the cases and brainstorm on what is needed to close out the cases," she wrote in an e-mail to City Desk. "This includes again not just command officials but those from patrols directly—who work the streets and need this information, and we need their input."

Groomes writes that the mission for detectives has expanded: "There is a greater cooperation and the detectives have also been given the mission to also PREVENT crime instead of just investigating it after it occurs."

This greater cooperation between detectives and beat cops may be Lanier's legacy. It surely will not be her much-hyped gimmicks.

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

On May 3, 26-year-old Marvin Acosta-Arguet was found suffering from a fatal stab wound. The police report:

"At approximately 6:10 pm, on May 3, 2009, members assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to the 800 block of Crittenden Street, NW for the report of a stabbing. Upon arrival, they located 26-year-old Marvin Acosta-Argueta, of the 900 block of Decatur Street, NW, lying on the sidewalk and suffering from an apparent stab wound to the body. He was subsequently pronounced dead on the scene by a representative of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099 or 1-888-919-CRIM [E] (1-888-919-2746)."

On May 1, a man was gunned down on Martin Luther King Avenue SE. The D.C. Police state in a press release:

"The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a homicide that occurred on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE. The victim has been identified as 44-year-old Earl Reeves of the 1300 block of Stevens Road, SE.

At approximately 11:41 pm on Friday, May 1, 2009, members assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Seventh District and DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to the 2600 block of Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue, SE for the report of a shooting. Upon arrival, they located Mr. Reeves suffering from apparent multiple gunshot wounds. He was immediately taken to an area hospital and pronounced dead.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099 or 1-888-919-CRIM [E] (1-888-919-2746)."