District on Pace to End 2006 With Fewest Homicides Since 1985 Contact (Media Only): Vince Morris (202) 727-5011; Sharon Gang (202) 727-5011 (Washington, DC) Mayor Anthony A. Williams today congratulated Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles H. Ramsey and thanked him for his eight years on the job, a period that coincided with an historic drop in crime. As of December 14, there have been 156 homicides in the city and only two in the month of December.  By comparison, in 2005, there were 196 homicides, while in 2002, there were 262 homicides.  Although the numbers are still too high and represent a challenge for the administration, they demonstrate a remarkable turnaround for a growing city at a time when many other metropolitan areas are seeing sharp crime increases. Most other categories of serious crimes, including assault, burglary and rape, have also decreased significantly during the last eight years.  Mayor Williams credited Chief Ramsey with an aggressive response in all parts of the city for the turnaround, including the decision over the summer to declare a crime emergency.  The emergency allowed the Mayor to deploy security cameras in neighborhoods for the first time ever, to set earlier curfew hours to protect young people and to ease information sharing among law enforcement agencies.  Chief Ramsey also deployed additional officers and has continued to shift more manpower into communities where they are needed most.  With the imminent construction of a new forensic crime lab, the District’s law enforcement capabilities will improve even more. The District will likely end 2006 with the fewest homicides since 1985, and the second lowest total since the mid-1960s.  Since 1998, the beginning of the Williams Administration, there has been a nearly 40 percent reduction in homicides.   “I am proud to have led this city as we’ve achieved dramatic improvements in public safety in every neighborhood – in fact, some of

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