Prince George’s County Police will be out in force this weekend, but it’s not all about making arrests.
The move to roll more officers out on the streets Friday and Saturday, officials said, is part of a program called “Blue Lights Nights,” which has the goal of fostering community and civic engagement, along with stepping up traffic enforcement and crime prevention.
As many as 30 different law enforcement agencies, including Prince George’s County police and sheriff’s deputies, along with the D.C. police department and Metro Transit Police Department, will be out in communities across Prince George’s County.
“We’re looking to interact with our community, hear from our community, see what their concerns are and just make sure we are available for them,” Prince George’s County Police Chief George Nader said. “We are going to be doing some traffic stops. This is not a stat-driven initiative by any means. This is a community engagement initiative.”
Nader said during a news conference Wednesday in Upper Marlboro that community engagement and policing means building more trust and transparency with citizens. He said when he and the other law enforcement leaders came up with the idea, they wanted to make it family friendly.
“We’re having things for kids, we’re having movie nights. We’re really looking at a great two days,” he said. “What we want to do is flood our communities with police officers to go out there and just have a positive influence on our communities.”
A list of community events is available on Prince George’s County’s website.
Nader said extra officers will be on patrol, and he insisted this is not to drive up arrest statistics, but to engage with Prince George’s County’s residents. He wasn’t able to provide an immediate number of extra officers that will be working those dates, but said it would be a “substantial increase.”
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