Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Please Support Homicide Watch D.C.


 This post is a plea for you to support Homicide Watch D.C. Journalist Laura Amico founded Homicide Watch D.C. in September 2010 as a tool to track homicides in the District. Her website, which she runs with her husband Chris Amico, does much more than that. It is, bar none, the best overall coverage of homicides in DC. She has obtained photos for nearly every victim, and tells their stories. She also follows through with court coverage. When I want to know about a homicide in the area, her site is the first place that I turn. It's an invaluable resource to anyone with an interest in the area. It is also a balm to the friends and family of the deceased who often feel that their loved ones have passed without larger notice. The site's stated mission is to "Mark every death. Remember every victim. Follow every case." That is a mission in which I have never seen Laura fall short.

As a result of her outstanding efforts Laura received the opportunity to study journalism innovation as a Nieman-Berkman Fellow at Harvard University. It appeared that she had secured an agreement with a local news outlet to continue the site after her departure. That deal has now fallen through. Unless they can secure sufficient funds over the next 29 days through a Kickstarter campaign, Homicide D.C. will be forced to cease publication.

Please don't let that happen. Please consider donating to this very worthy cause. Please also share this post/news far and wide. While blogs like Frozen Tropics are fun, and serve a very important purpose (in my opinion), websites like Homicide Watch D.C. transcend reporting on that hot new restaurant, or that fancy new condo development. They hit us on a much more visceral level. I think Amico puts it best when she writes that: "We have said, together, with one voice, that how people live and die here, and how those deaths are recognized, matters to every one of us." Please donate to keep Homicide Watch D.C. alive.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really wish I didn't see that homicide map.
How is it possible there hasn't been one single murder west of Rock Creek Park?

Anonymous said...

a gang banger would stick out like a sore thumb west of rock creek and they know that - so they stay away. thugs and murderers want to blend in so they aren't noticed and seen when committing their crime.

Anonymous said...

@anon 10:45 - yes, because the only gang bangers are murderers...

http://dcist.com/attachments/dcist_martin/09.12.2011_muth.jpg

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/magazine/albrecht-muth-and-viola-drath-georgetowns-worst-marriage.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

Anonymous said...

majority of murders in dc are committed by thug gang bangers. if you think otherwise, you're living under a rock.

Anonymous said...

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/10955/black-homicide-rate-drops-but-remains-high/

inked said...

Here's an interesting quote from that GGW piece:

"In fact, white residents face a lower homicide victim rate in the District than the nation as a whole. Nationally, 2.7 white residents are homicide victims per 100,000 white residents. But, among DC white residents, this figure is lower both when looking at data from either of the most recent two years (zero and 1.3 in 2009 and 2010, respectively) or the latest 5-year average (1.5)."

Robocop said...

I'm liking those odds. I'll be sure to keep those statistics in mind while I'm trolling the NE neighborhoods to taunt gang bangers.

not a white man said...

Anyone have Michael Jackson's plastic surgeon's number please?

also not a white man said...

To expound upon what Anon 11:48 said:

A majority of murder "victims" in DC are thug gang bangers committed by other thug gang bangers.

DCJaded said...

I like the idea of homicide watch, but I dont find the data useful. Its really hard to follow any individual crime from the commission through the trial. It could be improved dramatically through simply using basic calenders, proper tagging and similar means.

inked said...

DCJaded,
Have you seen the site since the relaunch? If you know the victim's name you type it in and everything pops right up (including court docs).