By Adam Pagnucco.
Recently, the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) published its newest batch of data due under Bill 33-19, which requires regular reporting on demographic and activity stats. I previously wrote a post on last year’s data back in July. Putting together the data from 2022 and 2023, we can start to identify some trends.
Here are a few.
MCPD lost 5% of its sworn officers in one year.
The police department lost a net 61 sworn officers from 2022 to 2023. In percentage terms, the decline was largest for Black officers though most demographics saw reductions. The table below summarizes staffing in the two years.
This decline came despite a sharp rise in recruitment events. MCPD had 131 of them in 2022 and 274 in 2023.
Overtime is WAY up.
Overtime hours in police districts shot up by 54%. The largest increases were in District 5 (Germantown/Clarksburg/Damascus), where it rose by 99%, and District 6 (Gaithersburg/Montgomery Village), where it rose by 74%. The table below shows overtime increases by district.
Calls for substance abuse and mental health both increased.
Calls for substance abuse rose from 3,051 in 2022 to 3,713 in 2023, an increase of 22%. The primary driver of this increase was CDS (controlled dangerous substance) calls, which shot up by 50%. Calls for mental health issues rose from 6,624 in 2022 to 6,862 in 2023, an increase of 4%.
Homeless calls are exploding.
In 2022, 147 calls for service involved homeless adults. In 2023, there were 964 such calls. The number of calls involving homeless juveniles increased from 1 to 13.
Disciplinary actions against officers are minimal.
The number of police officers against whom complaints were filed dropped from 234 in 2022 to 226 in 2023. The number of written reprimands of officers dropped from 12 to 4 in the same period. The number of officers subject to other categories of discipline were in single digits for each category in each year.
These two reports paint a picture of a department under stress. The number of sworn officers is shrinking. Calls for service involving substance abuse, mental health and homeless people are rising. The department has had to greatly increase its use of overtime to cope with these trends, especially in Upcounty. Policymakers must consider these trends when contemplating future policy decisions concerning the police department.