UrbanTurf Reader Asks: Have Dupont Circle and Kalorama Seen an Uptick in Crime?

• December 2, 2009

by Mark Wellborn

The Altamont in Kalorama by NCinDC

In this week’s installment of UrbanTurf Reader Asks, a woman looking to buy in Dupont Circle or Kalorama wonders if the crime level, specifically burglaries, has increased in these neighborhoods.

“I have been looking for a two-bedroom condo in Dupont Circle and Kalorama for the past month, however have been surprised at the number of burglaries that I have heard about in both neighborhoods. I went to check out a unit in a small building in Dupont Circle and a resident told me that it had been broken into three times over the last month. When I walked into a building in Kalorama, the police were in the lobby talking to a resident who had just had jewelry and her laptop stolen from her unit. Is this just a series of coincidences or are things changing in these areas?

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4 Comments

1. Mark said at 12:57 pm on Wednesday December 2, 2009:

   I live in a building on S Street that has been broken into four times in the last two months. The burglar broke in through one of the building’s fire escapes. These events were unsettling, but it is even more unsettling if there is another building in the area that has had multiple break-ins in recent months.

1. Jesi said at 7:24 pm on Wednesday December 2, 2009:

   A friend of mine who owns in Kalorama had her apt broken into last week. An isolated incident in the building but it sounds like this is becoming more common in the area.

1. Anon said at 12:47 pm on Thursday December 3, 2009:

   If you really want to know what has been going on in a particular neighborhood and even compare statistics over time, you should go to the DC Metro Police crime map site:  http://crimemap.dc.gov/presentation/query.asp

   And to help you put things in perspective, compare where you want to live to other neighborhoods.  You may be shocked at what you find.  When I moved from Dupont to Petworth I did this and was amazed by the amount of crime I did not even know about on my very street in Dupont and how safe Petworth looked in comparison. If you are going to live in an area that draws a lot of commercial and tourist traffic, then you are going to see the crime that goes with it.

1. Jonathan said at 11:50 am on Friday December 4, 2009:

   I moved to DC from Boston via New York five years ago and live in Kalorama Triangle. The problem as I see it is that there is virtually no police presence on the streets.  If you ever see a police officer (besides responding to a call), the officer is parked in a car outside the 7-11 on Columbia Road and 19th, presumably on break or awaiting DWIs.  I am so confused why DC, unlike Boston or NY, never has cops walking the beat. 

   I won’t be voting again for Mayor Fenty, as these concerns seem to fall on deaf ears.