Which D.C. police neighborhoods have seen the highest number of homicides in the last 60 days?
Executive summary
MPD and city open data make neighborhood-level homicide counts available but the sources provided here do not list a ready-made “last 60 days by police neighborhood” ranking; analysts must pull incident records from DC’s Crime Incidents dataset or MPD dashboards and aggregate them for the 60‑day window (geography fields such as Ward, Neighborhood Cluster, ANC and SMD are included in the dataset) [1]. Public summaries and news analysis emphasize that homicides in recent years have been concentrated in parts of Southeast D.C. (Wards 7 and 8), but the exact top neighborhoods for the last 60 days is not directly reported in the supplied links [2] [3].
1. What the official data sources provide — and what they don’t
The District’s open-data crime feed (Crime Incidents in 2025) includes geocoded fields — Ward, ANC, SMD, Neighborhood Cluster, voting precinct and census tract — so it is technically possible to compute homicides by any chosen geography and date range, including a rolling 60‑day window; the dataset’s methodology change in 2020 means those geography assignments are applied before anonymization [1]. The MPD site and MPD “Daily Crime” pages publish year‑to‑date comparisons and newsroom summaries but do not, in the provided material, publish a simple “last 60 days by police neighborhood” table that answers your question outright [4] [5].
2. Why reporters and analysts focus on Wards 7 and 8 — context, not a daily ranking
Multiple summaries and analyses of 2025 homicide trends note persistent concentrations of lethal violence in Southeast neighborhoods historically associated with Wards 7 and 8; sources discussing geographic concentration and broader homicide trends cite those areas as higher‑burden parts of the city [2] [3]. That pattern helps explain why many media and policy discussions single out Southeast neighborhoods, but the supplied sources do not provide the specific 60‑day counts per MPD police neighborhood needed to declare the top-ranked precincts for your requested window [2] [3].
3. How you (or a reporter) can produce a definitive 60‑day ranking from available sources
Use the Crime Incidents 2025 open dataset to filter records by offense = “Homicide” and by incident date within the last 60 days, then group by the chosen geography field (police district, Neighborhood Cluster, Ward or SMD). The dataset already includes those geography fields for post‑2020 incidents, which avoids manual geocoding [1]. MPD’s Daily Crime pages and newsroom releases can provide cross‑checks for high‑profile incidents but will not substitute for a fresh aggregation of the open data [4] [5].
4. Competing narratives about whether D.C. homicide is rising or falling
Federal and local summaries differ in emphasis. The U.S. Attorney’s Office highlighted a large drop in violent crime and a 32% decline in homicides for 2024 versus 2023, framing a long‑term improvement and enforcement successes [6]. National outlets and fact‑checks likewise reported declines into 2025 and cautioned against characterizations that D.C.’s homicide rate is uniquely extreme compared with other cities [7] [8]. Conversely, some commentaries and partisan pieces frame 2025 crime figures as evidence of crisis; the White House article claimed historically high rates in earlier years while other outlets noted recent decreases — these are competing framings that rely on different baselines and time windows [9] [7].
5. Limitations and potential pitfalls in interpreting recent data
Short windows (30–60 days) are noisy: homicides are relatively rare events and small absolute differences across neighborhoods can change rankings quickly. Aggregations that don’t account for population or long‑term trends can exaggerate risk in small areas. Also, neighborhood boundaries are not officially defined across all city datasets, so analysts often use MPD’s Neighborhood Clusters, Wards, or custom polygons — choices that change which “neighborhood” appears worst‑hit [1] [10]. The supplied sources do not provide the requested 60‑day neighborhood ranking, so any definitive list requires fresh aggregation of the open dataset [1].
6. Practical next steps I can take for you
I can (A) fetch and aggregate the open Crime Incidents 2025 dataset for the precise last‑60‑day window and return a ranked list by police neighborhood or Ward, or (B) show a concise methodology you can run: the exact filters and grouping to reproduce the ranking locally. The provided sources indicate the dataset contains the necessary geography fields, so either option will produce an authoritative answer if you want me to proceed [1].
Sources cited: Crime Incidents in 2025 (open data) [1]; MPD Daily Crime/District Crime Data at a Glance [4]; MPD Newsroom [5]; Homicide geographic context and trends [2]; crime‑trend analyses and national reporting [3]; federal statement on 2024 declines [6]; national fact‑checks and reporting on 2025 trends [7]; contextual commentary [9].