Metropolitan Police Reach Goal of 3,800 Sworn Members (Washington, DC) Mayor Anthony A. Williams announced today that with the hiring of approximately 20 officers last week, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has reached its goal of 3,800 sworn members on the force—a milestone that will further enhance neighborhood safety at a time when the District's crime rate is already declining sharply. In the fiscal year 2004 budget, Mayor Williams and the DC Council provided funds for the MPD to increase its sworn strength from approximately 3,650 to its authorized level of 3,800 by the end of the fiscal year, which is September 30. The MPD met that goal through the hiring of more than 320 recruit and lateral-entry officers over the past year. "This is great news for our Police Department and even better news for our neighborhoods," said Mayor Williams. "The hiring of additional officers means even more community policing resources in our neighborhoods, which should translate into even safer streets. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost family members and friends as a result of lethal violence. They remind us of the critical need to find ways to prevent future tragedies." So far this year, the number of serious crimes reported in DC has decreased 13 percent when compared with the same time last year, according to preliminary statistics. Homicides this year are down 20 percent. This year's decreases follow a nearly 9 percent reduction in serious crime between 2002 and 2003. In the District's 14 crime "hot spots," the reduction in crime has been even greater. Since February, when the hot spot initiative began, overall crime in the 14 areas is down 25 percent and violent crime is down 34 percent when compared with the same period of 2003, according to preliminary statistics. The hot spot initiative brings together police, other government agencies and community resources in a concentrated attack on crime and the conditions that lead to crime within small geographic

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