Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-09-23
Major Crime Drops
10 Pei. in District,
Rises S.5Pct. in u. 5.
By Miriom Gutenberg

By Miriom Gutenberg
Serious crime in the District
dropped by nearly 19 per cent
during the first six months Of
this year. while it was rising
throughout the Nation by 8.5 per
cent.
The contrast was shown in the
FBI's semiannual Uniform Crime
Reports, released today.
At the same time. a combina-
ton of the FBI and District po-
lice figures showed that in 1853
District police closed more than
twice as many cases as the aver
age of police in 1875 cities re-
porting to the FBI.
District police cleared up $50
per cent of all serious crimes last
year. The FBI total for 1,676
cities showed an average clear
ance Of Is per cent. In all cate
gories of serious crime, the Dis
trict bettered the average Of the
reporting cities.
Police Chief Robert v. Muir
ray attributed the Districts high
clearance rate to "the all-out
effort of all members Of the
force"
$4,000 Volunteer Hours.
The sharp decrease in crime
here came at time when FBI
Director j. Edgar Hoover was
predicting that at the present
rate. major crimes will reach a
record high for the Nation in
1854. In this connection Chief
Murray said:
I'm January alone. members
Of the force volunteered $4,000
hours of voluntary overtime
without any compensation. We
feel that with force of $500
men-222 men more than the
present authorized strength-we
could do the kind Of a job we'd
like to do without the necessity
of using men for overtime work
without compensation.
1--WE believe that the decrease
in crime here is due to several
things-the work Of the men
during their regular and unpaid
overtime hours, the provisions
of the omnibus crime bill, the
cooperation Of the United
States Attorney and the sitter
sentences meted out by the
judges"
Record Outlined.
On the score of offenses
cleared by the arrest of crimi-
mails, the FBI noted that report
ing cities cleared by arrest 75.5
per cent of the crimes against
persons - murder. negligent
manslaughter. rape and aggra-
waited assault. The same cities,
the FBI reported, cleared 22.9
per cent of the crimes against
property - robbery. burglary,
auto theft and larceny.
Here Is I how District police
stacked up In cleared cases. COM
pared with the average OF report
ing cities:
Murder-94.6 per cent of the
cases cleared by District police,
compared with an average of
93.7 per cent cleared by the
cities reporting to the FBI.
Negligent manslaughter-100
per cent cleared by District po-
lice, compared with an average
of 84.2 cleared by reporting
cities. s,....
Rape-94.6 per cent cleared
by District police, compared with
an average of 79.1 per cent.
Aggravated assault-86.7 per
cent cleared by District police,
compared with an average of
1875 per cent.
Robbery-71.9 per cent cleared
by District police. compared with
an average of 1877 per cent.
I. Burglary-53.5 per cent cleared
by District police. compared with
an average of 26.8 per cent.
= Larceny-44.3 per cent cleared
by District police, compared with
an average of 1876 per cent.
Auto theft - 27.8 per cent
cleared by District police. COM
pared with an average of rs per
cent in reporting cities. (This
refers to actual arrests of car
thieves. Generally, the rate of
recovering the cars is much
higher. On this, the District
averages about IS per cent?
Comparisons Difficult.
The F'BI followed its usual
custom of cautioning against
comparing cities on their crime
trends because Of the variation
In the size Of police forces and
such other differences between
cities as the type of population,