De domste crimineel ooit (of toch niet?)

Two officers confided that they and their colleagues rarely press hard on burglary cases because the courts almost always let thieves go with nothing more than probation. Maybe that's why four days after we handed over the photo, we were still waiting to hear from the detective assigned to the case.

Burglaries are up 11 percent citywide this year, to a total that will top 4,000 -- most likely a reflection of continued hard times, especially since virtually every other category of crime is down. D.C. police made 30 burglary arrests in the last two weeks of November, up from six in the same weeks last year. Nationwide, police solved only 12 percent of burglaries last year, according to FBI data; in big cities such as Washington, the figure often is barely more than half that high.

No wonder the guy in our photo wore such a confident smirk.