Montgomery County residents dealt with 300 more burglaries last year than in 2009, many in their homes, Police Chief Thomas Manger told County Council members Thursday. Calling the 10.4 percent increase “troubling,” Manger told the council’s Public Safety Committee that Montgomery County reported nearly three times as many burglaries in 2010 as Fairfax County — which has a comparable population and a similarly sized police department.
All of the county’s districts showed an increase in burglaries except for Germantown. The biggest jump was in Bethesda, which posted a 22.7 percent increase, while the most burglaries — 787 — occurred in Silver Spring.
| Burglaries rise throughout Montgomery County | ||||||
| District | 2009 | 2010 | Change | |||
| Rockville | 432 | 520 | 20.4% | |||
| Bethesda | 397 | 489 | 22.7% | |||
| Silver Spring | 722 | 787 | 9.0% | |||
| Wheaton | 629 | 696 | 10.7% | |||
| Germantown | 367 | 344 | -6.3% | |||
| Montgomery Village | 464 | 489 | 5.4% | |||
| Source: Montgomery County police | ||||||
Many of the incidents involved repeat offenders committing multiple burglaries, said Capt. Diane McCarthy of Montgomery County police’s Criminal Investigations Division.
So far, police have caught 15 percent of the burglars in 2010, but Manger said he expects that number to rise.
Both commercial and residential burglaries increased last year. The vast majority — 78.8 percent — of the county’s 3,323 burglaries occurred in people’s homes, and 25 percent of break-ins were through an unsecured door or window.
“Clearly people do need to have a different consciousness with respect to how they go about protecting themselves,” said Councilman Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda, who sits on the committee.
Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large, emphasized that the police can’t be held solely responsible for reversing the trend, saying that “budgetary realities” have kept the police from taking some necessary actions such as adding officers.
Manger said state sentencing guidelines prevent burglars from being incarcerated long enough to prevent them from repeating their crimes.
Still, many residents say they feel safe.
“There are trade-offs when you live in a metropolitan area,” said Jill Ortman-Fouse, president of the Indian Spring Citizens Association, who lives just a few minutes from downtown Silver Spring.
“If I thought that the bad guys are winning, then I might consider moving,” she said, but she thinks the police are keeping her neighborhood safe.
Although neighboring Prince George’s County reported 6,399 burglaries in 2010 –nearly twice as many as Montgomery County — that number fell 4.6 percent from the previous year.
Overall, crime is down in Montgomery County from 68,026 incidents to 62,944, a drop of about 7.5 percent.
Aggravated assault, auto theft and larceny all fell in 2010. Though the homicide rate jumped by 41.7 percent, Manger emphasized that the spike is indicative of a small number of homicides overall. Of the 17 slayings that occurred last year, 11 involved victims who knew their attackers.
