Archived. This brief was last updated in September 2026 and no longer updates. Analyses of DC policing now live at Residents Count.

Monthly Crime and Policing Brief

Downtown Crime and Policing Report, January 2026

83 reported incidents · Washington, DC · Source: DC MPD

Reported incidents measure what residents report to MPD, not how safe a place is. This brief pairs them with how enforcement lands in the police districts covering Downtown.

Downtown highlighted on a map of Washington, DC

Key Takeaways

83 incidents were reported in Downtown in January 2026.
Theft (Other) was the most common offense (66 incidents, 80% of the month's total).
Total incidents were down 19% versus December 2025 and down 31% versus January 2025.
The biggest month-over-month change was Theft (Other), which fell from 74 to 66.
This January was 39% below the 5-year historical average for the month (~136 incidents).

Monthly Crime Volume, Downtown

Reported incidents per month, trailing 13 months through January 2026. Source: MPD reported incidents (nine Part I offenses) via DC Open Data; N = 1,787 incidents over 13 months. Y axis: incidents per month.

January Incidents by Year, Downtown

January incidents across recent years: the seasonal view. Source: MPD reported incidents (nine Part I offenses) via DC Open Data; N = 765 incidents across 6 years of January. Y axis: incidents in the month.

Offense Breakdown, Downtown

Offense breakdown for January 2026. Source: MPD reported incidents (nine Part I offenses) via DC Open Data; N = 83 incidents; X axis: incidents in the month.

How Policing Lands Here

MPD District 2 covers about 52% of Downtown's reported incidents. 29,525 stops of persons were recorded there since 2023; Black people were stopped at 6.7x their share of the district's population; the district drew 0.7x the stops that its share of reported crime accounts for. Full District 2 analysis →
MPD District 1 covers about 40% of Downtown's reported incidents. 31,770 stops of persons were recorded there since 2023; Black people were stopped at 3.1x their share of the district's population; the district drew 1.0x the stops that its share of reported crime accounts for. Full District 1 analysis →

These figures come from the same MPD stop records and reported-crime data analyzed across this site. Reported crime is not occurred crime, and stop counts measure enforcement, not danger. Methodology: stops by district and enforcement vs reported crime.

February 2026 →

Free Monthly Downtown Crime Brief

Get a one-page Downtown crime brief by email each month: last month's incidents, month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons, and the seasonal trend.

← All neighborhood briefs

Incident counts reflect reported MPD crimes for the calendar month and are subject to revision. This report shows historical incident counts and trends only.