Can’t meet your goal for clearing 65% of the homicides that occur in your city?

No problem. Lower the goal to only 50.9% That’s what the District of Columbia Police Chief has set as the “target clearance rate” for 2002. According to The shington Post the old target was 65% but only 57% were cleared in 2000 and only 48.5% in 2001. According to The Post, “The new clearance rate is below the national average and below what D.C. police were achieving a few years ago. The figure is also below the average clearance rates of cities with similarly high numbers of homicides.”

This is in a city where, since 1977, it has been illegal for ordinary people to own handguns. You can’t
keep a handgun for self-defense and, if some homey caps you, chances are your killer will not be caught.