“Crime upticks across the nation in every major locale, crime is an issue, and for every jurisdiction, and Prince George’s County has not been immune to that,” Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said of the summer months. “The good news is that we go into this summer with overall crime down.”
Here’s what to know as county officials try to remain vigilant to tamp down summer violence through September.
Which crimes are up and which are down?
Violent crime in the county has increased from the same period last year, driven by assaults and domestic violence assaults that don’t involve weapons, Aziz said.
As of Saturday, no-weapon assaults rose from 462 this time last year to 590, a 28 percent jump. No-weapon domestic violence assaults are up 36 percent, with 659 so far this year compared to 486 last year.
Overall crime is down 10 percent compared with last year, and if it weren’t for the rise in those assaults and domestic violence assaults, violent crime would be down about 1 percent, Aziz said.
Compared with other areas in the region, like Baltimore and the District, Prince George’s isn’t experiencing the same double-digit decrease in homicides. County police have taken on 65 homicide investigations as of Monday, compared with 70 the same time a year ago, according to county data.
“We’re holding steady, we’re maintaining,” Aziz said. “When you look regionally, whatever is happening is not happening for us at this particular time, but the year is still young.”
Domestic violence remains an ongoing dilemma in Prince George’s. According to county data, domestic violence crimes are up 27 percent from last year, as of Saturday. At least 13 homicide cases investigated by Prince George’s police have been domestic violence-related, Aziz said.
Aziz said on a recent podcast that domestic cases can be complicated as officers respond to a complaint but then the victim drops the case, sometimes because the person abusing them is a household breadwinner or the parent of a victim’s child.
“It’s a very real situation, and we have to tread very carefully with it along a balanced line of it, but that is the real driver,” Aziz said. “Sometimes they’re doing it over and over again, but they don’t get a final day in court.”
The department changed its domestic violence reporting last summer, now requiring officers to make offense reports in domestic violence cases, Aziz said. This helps to keep a record of how many domestic incidents may have occurred at a location.
Separately, carjackings are down 16 percent compared with the same period last year, according to county data. Nonfatal shootings, property crime and car thefts are also down.
The police department launched a gun crimes unit this year that brings together detectives to solely investigate nonfatal shootings. Since its inception in March, the unit has had a 47 percent closure rate of nonfatal shootings, a number that’s higher than the average of other regions in the United States, hovering between 20 to 30 percent, according to department officials.
“We need a centralized focus on nonfatal shootings because nonfatal shootings are just one step away from being a homicide,” said Deputy Chief Zachary O’Lare. “It’s another victim that is impacted by gun crimes, which is one too many for us in the county.”
The department also partners with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to connect crimes and incidents based on firearms and fired cartridge casings found at crime scenes. Using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, police enter all casings found at a scene into the network, which then produces a report with any leads that the gun has been a part of, O’Lare said.
“Having the gun crimes unit and our crime gun intelligence center run parallel cases to get to the end result is why I think it’s successful so far,” O’Lare said. “There is a culture of work ethic and sacrifices that they give to ensure that they bring resolve to these families and remove these perpetrators from the street.”
What do county officials and community members say about recent crime?
Despite the efforts and downward numbers, residents are still left reeling.
Already this summer, several cases of devastating gunfire have struck the county, including the case of a 6-year-old killed at a neighborhood Fourth of July celebration, a fatal shooting following a vigil for Wise High School crash victims and deadly violence at a children’s football game. Police have made an arrest in the football game shooting and obtained an arrest warrant in the shooting of the 6-year-old, Ahsan Payton, according to the department.
After the Wise High School parking lot shooting that killed his son earlier this month, Shahid Omar Jr.’s father decried the violence as “senseless.”
Beverly John, founder of The Talking Drum, a social justice nonprofit, and member of the Prince George’s County Coalition for Police Accountability, said there is a need for more investments in solutions catered to the root causes of crime, such as mental health and financial resources, instead of a punishment-focused approach.
John stood against the youth curfew that County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks reinstated at the National Harbor in April after a brawl among teens.
“Instead of targeting them with more police monitoring events, target them with some extra resources that can be able to help move them away from these type of behaviors, so that desperation is not there,” John said.
Barry Stanton, the county’s deputy chief administrative officer for public safety and homeland security, said the government is not “pointing fingers at all our kids,” but wants to help them and their families.
“We’ve got mental health, we’ve got social services. We’ve got family services. We’ve got diversion programs in the courts … We’ve got more programs in the government than people can imagine,” Stanton said. “This is a full-fledged government approach to our citizens in Prince George’s County.”
How have police and prosecutors responded to summer crime?
Aziz rolled out a summer crime imitative in 2021, shortly after his tenure began. This year, the operation started June 3 and will end Sept. 1, according to the department.
The all-hands-on-deck approach deploys police in specific, high-crime zones in the county, based on data, Aziz said. The strategy is most helpful when neighbors advise police about what happens in those locations and they work together, Aziz said.
“When we deal with the general public, they have an interest in relating all things. They’re just not talking about crime … they’re talking about can you pick up the trash on the street … about the lights are out,” Aziz said. “We know we do crime. But can we engage you? Can we connect you with all the other agencies? … Now we can start dealing with the problem.”
Police also try to prevent crime through social media safety messages, interacting with youths at summer programs and sporting activities and meeting with seniors to educate them about fraud, Aziz said. There have been reports of 22 “tech support” scams this year, amassing $500,000 worth of losses, police said. Fraudsters use a computer pop-up message, text or call modeling as tech support agents to deceive victims out of money.
The Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office visits neighborhoods in the summer through its annual “Our Streets, Our Future” initiative, which provides resources and information to residents in crime-impacted areas, State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said in a statement.
According to the State’s Attorney’s Office, the homicide conviction rate is over 90 percent and the gun-possession and firearms-use conviction rate is 91 percent.
“Still, we know that there is much more work to be done and will continue to work with our partners and residents in the community to ensure that the downward trend in crime continues,” Braveboy said in a statement.
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