Arrests for shootings, carjackings and robberies are up in the District so far this year thanks to the city’s beefed-up surveillance camera system and the increasing willingness of crime-weary residents to talk to cops.

Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith, in an interview with The Washington Times, said the cameras have helped, but that her officers also have worked hard to establish better relations with the people they serve.

“The arrest rate is really about the officers doing great work in our communities, but also the communities really helping us with the crime that’s happening,” Chief Smith said “What I mean by that is that giving us good tips, giving us good information.”

Another factor could be that the workload for investigators has become significantly more manageable this year: The upswing in case closures overlaps with the District’s sizable drop in violent crime through the first five months of 2024. 

Local lawmakers in 2023 pointed to MPD’s struggles with bringing suspects to justice as compounding the most violent year this century. 

But policing changes implemented under Chief Smith, who will mark one year as D.C.’s top cop in July, seem to be showing promise.     

Crime statistics from the first three months of the year show 76% of homicides were closed by an arrest, while 68% of weapons assaults, 44% of robberies and 34% of nonfatal shootings also resulted in a suspect being taken into custody. 

It’s a far cry from where D.C. police ended last year, when 52% of killings ended with an arrest. In 2023, law enforcement nabbed a suspect in 51% of armed assaults, 27% of muggings and 26% of shootings where the victim survived. 

Low arrest rates in 2023 prompted D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson to suggest people could “get away with murder in this city.” 

Last year’s crime wave saw a 26-year-high in slayings, record-high carjackings and frequent ambush-style robberies tormenting pedestrians.    

All three of those crimes have seen major year-over-year drops so far in 2024, with D.C. police reporting a 26% reduction in violent crime through Monday.

Chief Smith said the Real Time Crime Center — a massive surveillance hub that taps into CCTV feeds as well as business and residential cameras throughout the city — helps police gather live video evidence and blast it out to both the public and police teams simultaneously.  

But D.C.’s top cop believes the key factor has been officers out mingling with people in neighborhoods. The initiative has engendered more trust between police and the Washingtonians, and convinced onlookers to cooperate with officers when violence erupts.

Research indicates that witnesses remain a crucial building block in an investigation, even as technology gives police more eyes on crime scenes.

A 2021 Manhattan Institute study found that “most successful investigations had as one key source of evidence the information provided by a cooperating eyewitness.”

The study, which looked at Boston’s arrest rate for deadly and non-deadly shootings between 2010-14, said a bystander’s recollection was the key to solving 28% of all homicides and 14% of all injurious shootings in that period.

A pivotal witness who observed a deadly Northeast shooting on Memorial Day not only helped police arrest a suspect, but provided physical evidence to MPD detectives.  

Court documents said officers found Chidozie Njoku, 23, shot dead around 2:45 p.m. Monday in an apartment parking lot on the 4000 block of Minnesota Avenue Northeast.

Minutes later, someone phoned 911 with a precise description of the shooter: a light-skinned Black male with a purple gun who was walking on the pedestrian bridge by the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station.

The killer was only a block away from the parking lot where Mr. Njoku was shot, the filing said. Officers sprang into action and arrested 20-year-old Shannon Updike after a brief foot chase.

The same caller even shared suspect photos with investigators at the scene and gave them a play-by-play of what led up to the slaying, including hearing the assailant say “I don’t care if I catch another body today,” according to court documents.

Crime victims are also putting off their own medical treatment to assist police investigations. 

An arrest affidavit said a man wounded in a March shooting went immediately to an MPD substation in Southeast instead of getting himself patched up.

The filing said the victim’s description of the suspect, combined with surveillance footage from the area where the shooting erupted, allowed police to create a lookout for the criminal. 

An officer came forward after identifying the suspect, court documents said, and detectives then got in touch with a parole officer who told investigators the alleged gunman was his client. 

Police executed a search warrant at 30-year-old Calvon Brown’s home about a month later and booked him on assault with a dangerous weapon charges.

Chief Smith said the District’s success in closing robbery cases is likely due to better patrol routes. 

Robberies have one of the lowest clearance rates of all violent crimes nationwide. FBI data from 2022 showed law enforcement agencies only handcuffed a suspect 23% of the time.

The chief said she frequently reviews crime trends so she knows where to send cops.   

“It’s making sure that we have officers in the right place,” the chief said, referencing the department’s Robbery Suppression Initiative launched last summer. “Looking at our data and looking at the evidence on how we are utilizing [the] hotspot policing concept.”

A police sergeant was passing through Northeast neighborhood Edgewood on May 20 when court records said a robbery victim flagged the officer down.

The victim told police they were jumped by a man and had their phone stolen from them. 

A short canvas of the area ended when authorities arrested 34-year-old Malik Martin-El a few blocks away and charged him with violent theft.

Outside of violent crimes, Chief Smith said the department’s Operation ATLAS — which stands for Action Teams Leaving Areas Safer — is a roving patrol unit that moves around the city and addresses smaller infractions. 

That includes drivers who have fake license plates on their cars or people who aren’t obeying traffic laws. 

The chief said the ATLAS units are tamping down some of the everyday lawlessness that residents see around the District.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.