Despite efforts to combat the growing robbery epidemic in Montgomery County, the problem is getting worse, according to officials.
Extra robbery-specific investigators were put on the streets after the year’s second quarter. But 325 robberies were reported in the county in the following three months, which equates to 42 moreincidents than during 2005’s third quarter.
Lt. Eric Burnett, the police department’s chief spokesman, said Thursday that there are no plans to further increase the number of robbery-specialized officers in response to the situation. But the hope is that when 40 new officers graduate from the police academy next month, it will have a positive impact.
“We’ll have more cops on the street, which we think should help,” Burnett said, adding that an additional 60 beyond the graduating class will join the force in 2007.
According to newly released crime statistics for the third quarter of 2006, incidents of robbery are up by almost 15 percent from the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.
And the rise is even more dramatic in year-to-date data, with a whopping 28 percent more robberies reported from January to September 2006 over those months in 2005.
Geographically, no area of the county is exempt from the large number of robberies of late. Lt. Burnett said Silver Spring was the only city that did not experience a big upswing on robberies during 2006’s third quarter, and even there, the robbery rate only dropped by a
The trend as far as the offenders, the lieutenant said, has been that a disproportionate amount of teenagers — many of whom are committing the crime in groups of at least three.
Lt. Burnett called the surge a definite concern but not so much so that it can’t be controlled.
On Thursday he told The Examiner that police officials are in ongoing discussions to develop new strategies that could lower the robbery rate.
And he, along with Police Chief Thomas Manger, has emphasized that even when Montgomery County’s crime statistics are up, they are still lower than those of other similiar-sized jurisdictions.
Other crime categories
A comparison between third quarter 2005 and ‘06 crimes in Montgomery County:
Going up
» Burglary — 6 percent (from 963 to 1,024)
» Larceny — 2 percent (from 4,424 to 4,498)
Going down
» Homicide — 60 percent (from 5 to 2)
» Rape — 7 percent (from 43 to 40)
» Aggravated assault — 13 percent (from 237 to 206)
