WASHINGTON — 2019 was the deadliest year D.C. has experienced in a decade.
According to Metropolitan Police Department data, 166 people were murdered in the District in 2019. That figure represents the highest murder rate in the nation's capital since 2008.
MPD Police Chief Peter Newsham discussed the figure at his annual end of the year press conference Tuesday afternoon.
He said the abundance of illegal guns on the District's streets have, in part, fueled the problem.
MPD recovered more than 2,000 illegal guns in 2019. Newsham said officers recovered 1,722 in illegal firearms in 2018.
However, the District's homicide rate wasn't the only troubling statistic in 2019.
Newsham said juveniles were arrested for more than half of all robberies in the District in 2019. The department's officers arrested 417 kids under the age of 18 for committing that crime.
"I would say if we are going to reduce robberies moving into 2020, we need to take a careful look at how those arrests are being handled by our criminal justice system," he said.
Newsham pointed to the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement's "Pathways" program as an example of an initiative that is helping to reduce juvenile crime. That program works to mentor young men who may be susceptible to participating in violent crime.
There was some good news to end the year.
Violent crime in the District is way down compared to 10 years ago, and that number takes into account the additional 100,000 residents who now call D.C. home.
