Law enforcement agencies in Prince George’s County are getting a boost in funding in the county executive’s proposed budget, after a spike in homicides early this year. “Despite the fact that revenues are barely inching up, we’re actually increasing the amount of spending that we are providing to police, fire, corrections and the sheriff,” said Thomas Himler, the county’s budget director, of the $8 million more budgeted for public safety than in fiscal 2011.
The county, facing a $77 million deficit in fiscal 2012, saw almost-daily killings in the first weeks of January. Baker has proposed cuts for most other county agencies. The County Council has to approve his budget.
Police chief Mark Magaw expressed desire during January’s murder cycle for more boots on the ground. Baker’s budget calls for adding 51 sworn officers to the force, including one new homicide investigator. It also allocates funds for 220 new police vehicles.
The county’s fire department will also see its ranks bolstered by 104 new officers and seven new fire trucks, Himler said. Fifteen new ambulances are also included in the budget, he said.
State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said her office is understaffed, with homicide prosecutors handling a case load four times the national average. “Our prosecutors carry between 12 and 14 active cases each,” she said.
Baker’s proposed budget allocates funds allowing Alsobrooks to hire an additional deputy state’s attorney and a training director — a full-time attorney who would help keep the attorneys up to date on new laws and prosecution techniques, she said.
Alsobrooks said the office is planning to use Prince George’s Community College paralegal students to help with some of the homicide cases.
“We’re trying to be as creative as possible in making sure we use well the resources we do have,” she said. “We understand resources are scarce.”
Two new housing units are set to open at the county jail in October, said John Erzen, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections. The project, approved in 2007, will allow the department to discontinue housing inmates in dayroom areas. Both units will include 96 new beds, he said.
And Baker’s $31 million proposed budget for the sheriff’s department allocates funding to hire 10 new deputy sheriffs to reduce the county’s 50,000 outstanding criminal warrants, something Sheriff Melvin High said is a priority.
