Police departments around the region are more than ready to turn the page to 2022, with hopes that a new year will mean a reduction in the ever escalating amount of violent crime that’s been seen during the pandemic.
Rising murder rates in 2020 were only a harbinger of an even worse 2021 in some parts of the region. In the District, the 20% increase in murders between 2019 and 2020 was capped off with another 15% increase in 2021 as the city soared past 200 homicides in one calendar year.
Other parts of the region also saw more violent deaths. Prince George’s County finished the year with over 100 homicides in 2021.
Compared to 2019, there were more than 40 additional murders in the county last year. Early Saturday morning, the county also recorded its first murder of 2022 when a man was found shot in Clinton.
There were also 280 instances of someone being shot in the county, but surviving the injuries.
The murder rate in Montgomery County, Maryland, nearly doubled in 2021, and Fairfax County, Virginia, also saw a noticeable jump from 15 to 21 murders last year.
The region also saw a big jump in the number of stolen cars and carjackings reported in 2021. Hundreds more cars were taken last year compared to 2020. In DC, nearly 10 cars get stolen every day on average. In Prince George’s County, on top of an increase in stolen cars, carjackings were also noticeably up in 2021, with almost one per day on average.
