Slow police response times could temporarily stop new development in southern Prince George’s County, Maryland, according to a memorandum from the county’s planning department.
According to the memo, the first nine months of 2019 data shows police districts five and seven have priority/emergency times that exceed the 10-minute emergency benchmark in every month. If the trend continues, developers looking to build in those districts could be denied due to inadequate police resources.
County Councilwoman Monique Anderson-Walker said she thinks the problem is understaffing.
A Prince George's County police spokesperson said distance and traffic congestion are a challenge for southern Prince George's County. For three years, police have waited for the funding to relocate District 5 and change District 7's boundaries, which is expected to help with response times.
“Now there's a, like, red flag that went up and said we’re really getting overwhelmed by development and it's going to affect our ability for the police to protect us, which is important to me and our neighbors,” said Ron Weiss, vice president of an action committee in southern Prince George’s County.
