Prince George’s County is missing more than 20 percent of its police officers, and some County Council members are concerned that crime won’t ease until more officers are recruited to rebuild the department. Including the most recent recruiting class in May, the department has 1,583 officers, according to acting Police Chief Mark Magaw, when Prince George’s needs about 2,000 officers.
The lack of officers has drawn criticism from Councilman Obie Patterson, D-Fort Washington, in a year when homicides have risen to a three-year high.
“The residents of my district don’t feel safe. I don’t know any other way to put it,” Patterson said at a recent council meeting.
Three new recruiting classes, totaling about 150 officers, are in the county’s fiscal 2012 budget. But according to Magaw, two of those classes will maintain the current number officers — the department typically loses about nine officers a month to retirement, he said.
The third recruiting class will slightly increase the department’s size, but more officers are needed to serve the community quicker and more effectively, Patterson said. The councilman’s office has received frequent complaints about delays in response times to emergency calls to the police.
And a measure included in Baker’s budget will place police officers inside Prince George’s County high schools, taking even more officers off the streets, Patterson said. The provision was added to free up sheriff’s deputies to handle a backlog of warrants.
“We simply don’t have enough officers on the street,” Patterson said. “Until we get more officers out there these delays are going to continue to happen. I don’t get the sense now that we’ve got a plan of action to make that happen.”
The police department doesn’t track its response times, according to a police spokesman. Response times are noted on individual case reports.
Potentially adding to the council’s woes is a new District Seven police station, expected to be complete in 2013. Councilman Mel Franklin, D-Accokeek, said he was concerned the station would hurt response times in other parts of the county if not enough officers were available to fully staff each district.
Magaw countered that “the police station in District Seven is only going to enhance our response times in Accokeek and southern parts of the county.”
“As we look at our numbers, we’re going to be fine,” Magaw said.
