Prince George’s County Police Chief George Nader delivered good news on crime while standing in front of the latest class of police recruits.
Nader explained that crime — including property and violent crime — is down in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Overall numbers show that violent crime is down by 19% and property crime is down 15%.
“We’ve seen 40% reduction in homicides, we’ve seen a 55% reduction in carjackings and a 48% reduction in robberies,” Nader said.
Nader shared that the county is seeing a decline in juvenile crimes and juvenile offenders who commit violent crimes.
“Last year, we had nine victims of homicide that were juveniles. This year, we’ve had five,” Nader added.
Asked about what seemed to be making the difference when it comes to reductions in juvenile crime, Nader cited targeted efforts, including programs that focus on truancy, and holding parents accountable for their children’s attendance at school.
“The Department of Juvenile Services for the state has done a great job in holding those juveniles that may be a threat to the community, rather than releasing them and putting them right back out,” he said.
Crime data
Prince George’s County’s police department is not alone in reporting positive news on crime reduction efforts. D.C. has been highlighting its reported drops in crime. But recently, there have been accusations that the agency, under the leadership of outgoing Police Chief Pamela Smith, had manipulated the data to make it appear that crime is lower than it is in actuality.
Nader said that his agency is diligent about checking the validity of its data and holds weekly meetings on the statistics that are gathered.
“If we don’t have accurate reporting, it affects our strategies,” said Nader. “Accurate reporting is not only important for the community, but that’s what drives our strategies.”
“If our numbers were flawed, our strategies would be flawed as well.”
“We operate with integrity, that’s something that we have to do,” said County Executive Aisha Braveboy, who formerly served as the State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County.
“Would I love to see even more reduction in crime across the board? Of course. We are very focused on providing accurate numbers and I am satisfied that our department as well as our partners are providing accurate numbers,” she said.
New recruits
Nader also announced that the department now has the largest class of police recruits in a decade.
“This includes 72 recruit officers, 55 of which are Prince George’s County officers,” he said.
Nader said the success in boosting the number of recruits “didn’t happen by chance. We made recruiting our mission.”
“Anyone watching who feels the call to serve — this is your moment,” Nader added.
Nader introduced the county’s deputy chief administrative officer for public safety, Melvin Powell, who told the recruit class that they would serve roles such as homicide investigators, canine handlers, internal affairs, and IT personnel.
“But in the end,” he said, “you’ll be part of the public safety family for life.”
Prince George’s County Sheriff John Carr talked about a shift in culture, one which focused on recruiting future officers from the Prince George’s County community.
“We want our individuals from our communities to be part of this organization, not only with the police department, our sheriff’s office, our corrections, fire, anything involving public safety, because we know you have a vested interest in this community,” Carr said.
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