On December 14th, the VNSTA submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the District of Columbia, requesting crime statistics and police analysis of crime in Police Service Area (PSA) 203, which includes the Van Ness neighborhood.

The text of the request follows:

A search of DC Crime Cards reveals that crime is up sharply in PSA 203 in the past three via the previous three years, according to the methodology Crime Cards uses. A simple search on other PSAs, ANCs, Wards and the city show that crime is substantially down almost everywhere else.

The Van Ness South Tenants Association (VNSTA) has exported and compiled the Crime Cards data page by page and has aggregated it in Excel to analyze the changes on a percent basis. This also shows sharp increases in PSA 203 and substantial decreases everywhere else.

The VNSTA requests all MPD analyses of these trends -- tracking PSA 203 during this period, and comparing PSA 203 to other PSAs, wards and the city as a whole.

VNSTA requests both summary analyses of these data in numerical form, and written analyses by MPD that were shared with any other body in the administration.

MPD is surely aware of these trends and it is extremely likely that it has shared its analysis and interpretation with other city departments and with the mayor.

With crime rising sharply in our neighborhood (PSA 203), it is reasonable for the tenants association to request police data which is already public in raw form, but which isn't presented in full, organized, analyzed, summarized or interpreted.

We respectfully request the data and analysis described above.

(Date Range for Record Search: From 01/01/2016 To 12/14/2021)