By Adam Pagnucco.
Another round of crime data that has been assembled for the county council shows something that will surprise no readers of Montgomery Perspective: crime is up for the third year in a row.
A council Public Safety Committee packet prepared by council analyst Susan Farag, a long-time prophet on crime and police staffing trends, starts off with these observations.
In 2023, overall crime increased for the third year in a row.
Crimes against persons increased 6.6% and crimes against property increased 10.9%.
Auto thefts spiked by 131.1%, fueled by Hyundai and Kia thefts.
Carjackings rose by 28.6%.
Crimes against society, which include drug offenses, fell by 13.8%.
Rape and other sex offenses dropped by 9%.
Firearms continue to play a significant role in violent crime.
Here are a few other tidbits.
MoCo is seeing a long-term increase in homicides.
Homicides are uncommon in MoCo but they have been increasing for years. Farag writes: “Over the past five years, homicides have increased by 93.3% in the County, from a low of 15 in 2019 to 29 in 2023. The Department has arrested 20 suspects in 69% of all homicide cases and has two more warrants on file for identified offenders.” She backs that up with the chart below.
Homicide victims are most likely to be men of color.
Of the 29 homicide victims last year, 20 were Black, 7 were Latino, 2 were White and 25 were men.
Carjacking is WAY up.
This chart on carjackings from 2019 through 2023 says it all.
Police are confiscating weapons in traffic stops.
Last year, county police found 87 firearms offenses in traffic stops and seized 99 firearms. This confirms multiple recent police reports of weapons found during traffic stop arrests.
Nationwide, crime is down in many cities.
Local politicians like to blame national trends for local increases in crime. They can’t do that now. Farag cites a survey of 79 cities and counties who are members of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) that finds falling rates of homicides, aggravated assaults, rape and robbery in the group as a whole. A different survey of 38 cities by the Council on Criminal Justice found falling rates of homicides, aggravated assaults, firearms offenses, carjackings, burglaries and larcenies. Farag says this about local homicide rates:
Many MCCA member jurisdictions here in the DC/Maryland/Virginia region saw reductions in homicide rates as well. Homicides fell in Prince George’s County (-6.6%), Fairfax County, VA (-21%), and Baltimore County (-9%). Notable exceptions to these reductions include Washington, DC, with a 37% increase in homicides through the third quarter of 2023, and Montgomery County, with a 38% increase in homicides through the same time.
Now back to the issue of traffic stops. Remember the bill introduced by Council Member Will Jawando that would limit many officer traffic stops? After the state attorney general found that several provisions in the bill were preempted by state law, Jawando has decided to withdraw it. Instead, he is introducing a new bill that would “prohibit consent search of a motor vehicle or person by a police officer during a traffic stop.”
So as crime continues to rise, the public policy debate in MoCo is more focused on stopping police than stopping criminals. How much longer will this go on?