June 19, 2013

Metro fails to report homicide on crime report -- again

BY: KYTJA WEIR FEBRUARY 29, 2012 | MODIFIED: FEBRUARY 29, 2012 AT 5:49 PM
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Metro continues to have problems reporting its most serious crime cases -- homicides.

Just as it did last year, the agency reported zero homicides for 2011.

But Metro did have a high-profile slaying last year.

On Oct. 20, Demetrius Thompson, a 22-year-old father of two, was gunned down by fellow Metrobus riders. The agency released video footage of the suspects and claimed credit for their capture.

Spokesman Dan Stessel called the omission a clerical error and said the statistics were updated after The Washington Examiner questioned it. "It's not as though we're hiding it," Stessel said.

The agency did the same thing last year, though, after The Examiner asked questions about another unlisted slaying.

The omissions occurred because D.C.'s Metropolitan Police, not the transit police, investigate all homicides that happen on the transit system in the District. Still, Stessel said, homicides should have been included on the annual statistics with an asterisk.

"It's something we'll ensure doesn't happen again," Stessel said this week.

He stands by all the other crime statistics as being accurate. - Kytja Weir

kweir@washingtonexaminer.com

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Kytja Weir

Staff Writer - Transportation
The Washington Examiner

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