MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) – On Monday, officials with the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCPD) talked with members of the Montgomery County Council Public Safety Committee about how crime against people, property and society has significantly decreased from last year along with initiatives they’ve implemented to continue reducing crime.
MCPD said after three consecutive years of increasing crime, it is now seeing a decrease in most types of crime compared to this time last year.
Crimes against persons are 3% less, crimes against property are 3.9% less and crimes against society are 21.3% lower than in 2023.
“Any chief will say that we’re not going to take credit for the reductions because they can swing the other way wildly,” MCPD assistant chief Darren Francke said. “What I will say is it’s a team effort all the way through and the first thing is the men and women working out there [for] many hours so that we can see a report like this where in the majority of categories, we’ve seen reductions.”
The department said despite the drop, crime is still elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Montgomery County Council Public Safety Committee Chair, Sidney Katz, said the downtrend is an encouraging sign.
“We are pleased that it’s coming down,” Katz said. “But that does not mean that we’re going to in any way stop what we’re doing.”
Katz said initiatives that MCPD has set up like the Drone as First Responder program, the MoCoConnect program, and many others play a substantial role in helping reduce crime.
“Some work,” he said. “Some don’t. You have to massage them; you have to figure out what did and didn’t work. And so, many of our programs are working.”
MCPD officials said staffing continues to be a challenge for them. They currently have a 14% vacancy for sworn personnel.
