Crime in Silver Spring dropped in the last two months with more police patrolling downtown, new data show, prompting some Montgomery County lawmakers to wonder why the county needs a youth curfew. The data show only one aggravated assault in downtown Silver Spring since Aug. 1, compared with an average of three every two months in the past. Robberies also dropped from an average of six per month to 1.5 per month since Aug. 1.
The Montgomery County Police Department in July doubled the number of police officers patrolling the area during the hours the proposed youth curfew targets, said Cmdr. Donald Johnson.
Under the curfew — proposed in July by County Executive Ike Leggett — youth under age 18 in a public place after 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday nights or after midnight Friday and Saturday nights could receive a civil citation if they disobey a police officer’s order to go home. Exceptions would be made for jobs, running an errand for a parent or returning home from a movie that started before curfew hours.
Though the data were available for only two months, Councilman Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda, who sits on the Public Safety Committee, said it shows that a police presence can be effective in fighting crime, leaving him “skeptical” that a curfew is necessary.
“It undermines the argument of the executive branch that a curfew is needed to address levels of crime in Silver Spring,” said Councilman Phil Andrews, D-Rockville/Gaithersburg and chairman of the Public Safety Committee. “Targeting resources to where they’re needed is sufficient … and is a proven method.”
Andrews, an outspoken opponent of the curfew, added that Leggett dismissed the use of evidence to back up the necessity of a curfew, referring to a comment Leggett made last month that he could “debunk any study that comes up.”
But an increased police presence in Silver Spring would solve problems only in Silver Spring, said Councilman Marc Elrich, D-at large and a member of the committee. Though having more police clearly did have a positive effect there, a curfew could also “have some marginal positive effect.”
A July stabbing in Silver Spring has been frequently cited as inspiration for the curfew, but Leggett said there are other areas that need the county’s attention as well, pointing to Wheaton, Aspen Hill, Germantown — the site of a flash mob robbery at a 7-Eleven in August — and parts of the eastern county.
The county doesn’t have the resources to increase police presence in every part of the county, he said.
