Monthly Crime and Policing Brief

Downtown Crime and Policing Report, March 2026

111 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

111 incidents were reported in Downtown in March 2026.
Theft (Other) was the most common offense (76 incidents, 68% of the month's total).
Total incidents were up 66% versus February 2026 and down 26% versus March 2025.
The biggest month-over-month change was Theft (Other), which rose from 48 to 76.
This March was 19% below the 5-year historical average for the month (~136 incidents).

Monthly Crime Volume, Downtown

Reported incidents per month, trailing 13 months through March 2026.

March Incidents by Year, Downtown

March incidents across recent years: the seasonal view.

Offense Breakdown, Downtown

Offense breakdown for March 2026.

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 · April 2026 →

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