Rate 2nd-Lowest In Four Decades
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The crime rate increased slightly in Alexandria last year, driven by a spike in break-ins targeting high-tech gadgets in vehicles, but crime in the city remains at its lowest level in decades, police said.
Even as larcenies from vehicles increased, the police department's amended 2007 crime statistics, released last week, showed that other crimes such as rape, robbery, assault and burglary continued to decline. Homicides, however, increased from five in 2006 to eight last year, which police said is still low for a city of Alexandria's size.
One homicide was the mysterious death of 2-month-old Devin Bustamante. Taken to Inova Alexandria Hospital by his parents Oct. 17, he was soon pronounced dead. Devin had no visible signs of trauma on his body, and the medical examiner initially ruled the cause of death as inconclusive, police said.
After extensive toxicology, tissue and other tests by a state medical laboratory, the death was reclassified March 3 as a homicide, caused by a head injury. Alexandria Police Chief David P. Baker said a "very exhaustive process" is typically followed in the rare instances in which the medical examiner can't initially determine a cause of death.
No has been charged in Devin's death. Baker said police had been examining the case all along and are quickening their investigation.
"We can't bring people in and accuse them of homicide unless it's been ruled a homicide," Baker said. "We take the investigation as far as we can, pending final ruling from the medical examiner, and now that it's been ruled a homicide, we will take it that much further."
The Washington Post could not locate Devin's parents last week.
Baker said he thinks the overall increase in homicides last year was driven by some unusual cases, including the beating death of a man by his best friend in the city's probation and parole office in Old Town and a rare double homicide near a public housing complex on North Patrick Street.
As evidence that there is no trend, Baker cited the number of homicides so far in 2008: zero.
"I certainly don't want to have any homicides," he said, "but I don't see anything here that is alarming."
Baker said he was pleased with the overall crime numbers. Although total "part 1" crimes -- a statistical designation that covers homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft -- increased from 3,745 in 2006 to 3,774 last year, Baker emphasized that even the higher figure is lower than any other year in the past four decades. Crime reached a 40-year low in 2006.
As recently as the early 1990s, Alexandria had more than 9,000 part 1 crimes per year, Baker said.
He attributed the steady decline in the crime rate to a combination of aggressive police tactics, better analysis of crime trends and help from resident organizations. There are also more officers on the streets, 318 vs. about 235 in 1991.
"The numbers speak for themselves," Baker said. "It's a lot of good work by our men and women who are on the street every day, making this happen."
Other than homicide, the only crime category that increased last year was larceny, which climbed from 2,538 in 2006 to 2,663. Baker said police in Alexandria and other Northern Virginia communities have noticed a rise in larceny from automobiles, primarily fueled by high-tech devices such as Global Positioning System units, computers and cellphones that are often left visible to thieves.
"You'd be surprised at the number of vehicles that are left either unlocked or unattended with any number of valuables in plain view," Baker said.
He advised Alexandria residents to "take valuables out of your car, lock your car and park in as safe a place as you can."
"Do the kinds of common-sense things so your vehicle, and even your neighborhood, doesn't become a target-rich environment," he said.
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