Washington DC hits 900 carjackings over one year on Thanksgiving Day

The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced the nation’s capital has surpassed 900 carjackings over the past year as Americans.

The MPD’s carjacking dashboard shows 901 total year-to-date carjackings and only 157 year-to-date carjacking arrests. In all, 77% of carjackings committed in the federal district involved a firearm.

In addition, 66% of arrests involved a juvenile defendant, highlighting D.C.’s ongoing problem with youth crime at a time when the D.C. Attorney General is being criticized for his comparatively soft approach to youth crimes.

At an April community event, Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D.) told attendees that “kids are kids” and should be treated differently than adults when it comes to crime.

The MPD formed a carjacking task force in 2021 in order to combat the rise in this crime. Just recently, the city also provided free dashboard cameras to ride share and delivery vehicles that drive in D.C.’s high crime areas in an effort to curtail carjackings.

MPD advises D.C. residents to lock their cars, park in a safe area and stay alert of surroundings as the city experiences a rise in carjackings. This month Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency over the juvenile crime crisis alongside the opioid epidemic.

"Although each of these urgent situations are, to some extent, geographically concentrated, the nature of the two emergencies demands city-wide responses,” Bowser said in a press release.