A Montgomery County Council joint committee reviewed more than $1 million in additional funds Wednesday that will cover costs of a November rearrangement of police staff in Rockville and Gaithersburg.
Since Nov. 1, police departments in the two cities have taken full and primary responsibility for police service calls in their area due to staffing vacancies within the Montgomery County Police Department.
There were 176 unfilled positions in the county police department in November. Six county officers assigned to Rockville were reassigned — three went to Bethesda and three went to Wheaton, which both face significantly higher patrol vacancies, according to county legislative analyst Susan Farag.
Two police beats were pulled from the western end of Gaithersburg, including the Kentlands, Muddy Branch Road and the Downtown Crown area.
The presence of policing alone deters crime, which is why it’s necessary to fill vacancies within departments, Farag said.
“Appropriate police staffing levels are critical throughout the county,” Farag said. “A lack of police staffing may disproportionately hurt communities of color.”
A racial impact analysis found that the more than $1 million in added funds is likely to have little or no impact on racial equity in the community, but that further analysis is needed after more information is given about how police redistribution impacts racial and social equity.
Rockville mayor Monique Ashton said she recognizes challenges police departments are facing and that Rockville needs funding to support their own police as well as other parts of the county.
“There’s a lot of costs we’re experiencing,” Ashton said. “There’s a human cost, there is a community safety cost, and there’s also. thinking about our officers, there’s family cost.”
Police response times have risen since officer redistribution and an increase in overtime has caused stress and exhaustion for officers, Ashton said. Police also want to spend more time patrolling to actively prevent crime rather than respond to it after its happened, which is only possible with a full staff, according to Ashton.
Rockville City Police Chief Victor Brito echoed Ashton’s statement and said officers actively patrolling the area is one of the reasons the city was voted the 12th safest municipality in the country last June.
“Proactive patrol is our lifeblood,” Brito said. “We try to prevent things, but right now we have so many calls for service.”
Montgomery County Police hasn’t seen an influx in people joining the police academy to become law enforcement, which means staffing issues are likely to continue affecting police departments around the county, according to Montgomery County Police Assistant Chief Willie Parker-Loan.
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