Monthly Crime and Policing Brief

Downtown Crime and Policing Report, September 2026

143 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

143 incidents were reported in Downtown in September 2026.
Theft (Other) was the most common offense (98 incidents, 69% of the month's total).
Total incidents were down 3% versus August 2026 and up 4% versus September 2025.
The biggest month-over-month change was Theft (Other), which fell from 105 to 98.
This September was 14% below the 5-year historical average for the month (~165 incidents).

Monthly Crime Volume, Downtown

Reported incidents per month, trailing 13 months through September 2026. Source: MPD reported incidents (nine Part I offenses) via DC Open Data; N = 1,533 incidents over 13 months. Y axis: incidents per month.

September Incidents by Year, Downtown

September incidents across recent years: the seasonal view. Source: MPD reported incidents (nine Part I offenses) via DC Open Data; N = 970 incidents across 6 years of September. Y axis: incidents in the month.

Offense Breakdown, Downtown

Offense breakdown for September 2026. Source: MPD reported incidents (nine Part I offenses) via DC Open Data; N = 143 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.

← August 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.