Crime was down overall in Prince George's County, Maryland, last year, but the chief of police says there’s still work to do.
Total crime is down by 9% in the county, Chief Malik Aziz said. Violent crime is down 3%, and homicides are down 5%.
“But if the stats say one thing and you don’t feel another, that’s a problem that we have to work on,” Aziz said. “Not just with stats, but with perception.”
Aziz said they've made a lot of progress in reducing carjackings, which are down 33%, with 147 juveniles arrested for the crime last year.
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“Young people, especially, started using carjackings as a means to get from one place to another,” he said.
Stolen vehicles were down 24%. Aziz said efforts to stop the thefts of Kias and Hyundais helped. The distribution of anti-theft devices and software changes combatted the TikTok challenge that escalated thefts across the country.
“A lot of our young people were doing this out of fun,” Aziz said. “Others were doing it to commit these thefts to commit other crimes.”
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An area where police saw big increases was assaults without a weapon – like fights. They were up 18%.
The county saw an increase in some thefts by 14%, largely due to an explosion across the country in organized retail theft and shoplifting.
Juvenile crime continues to be a problem, Aziz said. Investigators are focusing on a small number of kids committing what he called hardcore crimes.
“You can't let everybody go,” he said. “Everybody gets dressed up. Put on a nice suit and tie, your fine clothes, and they speak real well, and they tell you what a great person they’re going to be in the future. And then they're right back out playing the system.”
Prince George’s County police took more than 1,500 guns off the streets in 2024, including almost 200 ghost guns.
Prince George’s County police have not adopted the use of drones as a crimefighting tool because there's so much restricted air space, especially around Joint Base Andrews in Camp Springs.
“When someone is using a drone program in some other city or outside the restricted area, they can do things that we can't do,” Aziz said.
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