DC residents, were you ever personally a victim of a crime here

[Anonymous]

I've had a bike and some bike parts stolen in recent years, and some porch piracy of fairly small things. Had someone dig up and steal a nice fern plant from my yard near the sidewalk. Back in the late 2000s, had a car stereo stolen (luckily they managed to pull the window rather than smashing anything). The bike was a real bummer, but the small stuff you just learn to expect on occasion and budget for as part of the cost of living in a gentrifying neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone grabbed my phone on the metro once (metro police got it back much to my surprise)

Someone stole my bike from the La Plata park and ride another time (this one is entirely on me -- I left it overnight and didn't have a U lock)

And my favourite: the time someone stole my kickstand (yes, just the kickstand) from my bike

No no no - haven’t you heard? You should absolutely leave your bike unlocked wherever you want. It’s not your responsibility to lock it. It should never be stolen if we just teach our kids to NOT STEAL! Easy peasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For any longtime resident the answer will be yes. Also many close calls.

This isn't true: I've lived in the District for 22 years and never been the victim of any crime. (It's possible my mini-grill was stolen off my back porch when I lived in Dupont Circle in the mid-2000s, but I think actually the condo board president for the complex where I lived took it because she thought it violated the rules.)

You are indeed lucky, as am I. DC native, who only managed to fall victim to two VERY minor property crimes and get flashed on the Metro.

That said, I know several people who were murdered (and I'm kind of stunned that no one else has mentioned the same yet in this thread, which must say something about DCUM demographics), one who was violently raped by a stranger in her own apartment, and my grandmother was mugged and had her house broken into numerous times in SE DC years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone grabbed my phone on the metro once (metro police got it back much to my surprise)

Someone stole my bike from the La Plata park and ride another time (this one is entirely on me -- I left it overnight and didn't have a U lock)

And my favourite: the time someone stole my kickstand (yes, just the kickstand) from my bike

No no no - haven’t you heard? You should absolutely leave your bike unlocked wherever you want. It’s not your responsibility to lock it. It should never be stolen if we just teach our kids to NOT STEAL! Easy peasy.

I mean I had just moved from Tokyo where people do just leave their bikes out in the world unlocked so that model can work, but not here! It wasn't that big a deal, honestly -- there's a reason I only buy cheap bikes.

[Anonymous]

Lived here 15 years. Nothing major. Had our license plates stolen, a package or two stolen, and an unchained grill stolen. I think I averted a break in several years ago at my Cap Hill English basement apartment when I was home during the day (pre pandemic) - a guy knocked on my door asking for some random person and then the next door neighbor's was broken into the same day.

[Anonymous]

Wish my experience were limited to property theft. Bike stolen, while locked, in the apartment building in which I lived at the time. Definitely inside job, b/c all bikes on that rack were stolen, caught on camera, and then the property manager said “something happened to the video.” Hardly compares to being grabbed and sexually assaulted, violently, in Georgetown, by someone who was eventually arrested and convicted for assaulting/raping at least 4 different women in NW DC. No it wasn’t late at night, no I wasn’t on my phone, etc. And for the weirdo PP who is making everything about race, no the perpetrator wasn’t black.

[Anonymous]

I'm reading these stories in this thread.....and nothing here strikes me as DC-specific. Friends in Manhattan, Brooklyn, LA, Chicago, Miami, etc. all have the same stories at about the same frequency. When I lived in NYC, I had three bikes stolen and a lot more package theft than anything I've experienced here in DC. In LA and Miami, there were A LOT more random fights/assaults with strangers if someone thought you looked at them funny in a bar or the 7/11.

This seems to be an American problem of urbanization where you just have a lot more interaction with strangers in public, relative to the family-focused suburbs or isolated rural locales where you rarely interact with people outside your household.

I will say that all the violent incidents that happened in my social circles in DC happened in the 2009-2012 time frame, when I was a lot younger and we were going out more frequently at night.

[Anonymous]

I’ve only been here 4 years but not really. Temp tags were stolen once. I have a large circle of friends and only one person has been a crime victim—English basement break in while they were out of town, probably 8 or so years ago.

[Anonymous]

54 year resident. The only crimes perpetrated against me were a few times when I left my car unlocked and the car was rifled. I had a car window broken in Arlington. I did witness a shooting in Adams Morgan in the 90s. Have lived in wards 3, 4, 5 and 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20 years in the district and (knock on wood) haven’t experienced any personal or property crime except being flashed on the metro 15 years ago.

Signed, a white woman who isn’t scared of Black propel, but thanks PP for perpetuating the lazy, racist, misogynist trope.

Oh look, a racist white woman who thinks POC are never crime victims and don't care about crime.

[Anonymous]

Someone threw raw eggs at me. Not that bad but there it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm reading these stories in this thread.....and nothing here strikes me as DC-specific. Friends in Manhattan, Brooklyn, LA, Chicago, Miami, etc. all have the same stories at about the same frequency. When I lived in NYC, I had three bikes stolen and a lot more package theft than anything I've experienced here in DC. In LA and Miami, there were A LOT more random fights/assaults with strangers if someone thought you looked at them funny in a bar or the 7/11.

This seems to be an American problem of urbanization where you just have a lot more interaction with strangers in public, relative to the family-focused suburbs or isolated rural locales where you rarely interact with people outside your household.

I will say that all the violent incidents that happened in my social circles in DC happened in the 2009-2012 time frame, when I was a lot younger and we were going out more frequently at night.

Same. I've been in DC for 20 years but lived in NYC and San Francisco before that and experienced worse crime both places.

A lot has to do with the neighborhood you live in. I live off of H Street now and there's a lot of property crimes (stolen packages, car break ins) and while I've never been victimized by it, more shootings/muggings/car jackings in close proximity to my home. But I lived near U Street in the early 00s and it was much worse. MUCH worse. Meanwhile I lived in Dupont, Shaw, and Woodley Park/AM at various points and those neighborhoods always felt pretty quiet in terms of crime. But it also depends when you live in a place. My understanding is that H Street used to be much worse, and I had coworkers tell me about Dupont in the 90s and it sounds awful in terms of the drug trade and associated crime.

Some amount of crime is probably inevitable in urban centers -- it's the trade off for the many benefits of living in a high density place with lots of amenities, walkable neighborhoods, and good public transportation. IME people who don't value the good things about high density living tend to be much more bothered by the crime, and people who really value these things tend to find ways to mitigate the crime issues.

[Anonymous]

I've been here for 34 years. I've never experienced any personal crime. Someone did steal my husband's golf clubs out of the garage when the door was up. I see that as a crime of opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For any longtime resident the answer will be yes. Also many close calls.

This isn't true: I've lived in the District for 22 years and never been the victim of any crime. (It's possible my mini-grill was stolen off my back porch when I lived in Dupont Circle in the mid-2000s, but I think actually the condo board president for the complex where I lived took it because she thought it violated the rules.)

You are indeed lucky, as am I. DC native, who only managed to fall victim to two VERY minor property crimes and get flashed on the Metro.

That said, I know several people who were murdered (and I'm kind of stunned that no one else has mentioned the same yet in this thread, which must say something about DCUM demographics), one who was violently raped by a stranger in her own apartment, and my grandmother was mugged and had her house broken into numerous times in SE DC years ago.

I'm the PP you replied to, and I did mention murder earlier, too -- a neighbor was murdered in the alley behind our house, and we were home at the time and heard the shots. But I mentioned it because I don't think that makes ME a victim of crime, which is what the thread was asking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have lived here since 1999. Never been a victim of crime, not even porch pirates. I guess I am just luckier than most.

This is me, I am Black and a woman and I have lived in DC since 1999 and had a car the whole time. Perhaps it is where I live (never in a transitional neighborhood) or my lifestyle (not really a going out kind of person) or the fact I was assaulted in college so I move about the world in defense mode at all times, but I have not been victim of crime, here. The people I know who have been victims are people who bike or use public transportation, socialize more etc so just seems there were more opportunities for it to happen to them.