Overall crime is down in Montgomery County, according to recent statistics presented to the County Council on Monday.
Nationally, crime has decreased by three percent in the past year. During and shortly after COVID, the country saw a surge in criminal activity, before decreasing in following years.
However, the county did not see the same results. While sex offenses and crimes saw significant drops, homicides increased by over 30% from 2022 along with upticks in other violent crimes as well.
Things have turned around this year though, according to legislative analyst Susan Farag and the county police department.
“After three years of increasing crime…the county is now experiencing significant decreases in most types of crime,” said Farag.
So far this year, data has shown that violent crimes such as homicides and rapes have decreased across the board by approximately 46% and 13% respectively. Additionally, commercial robberies, fraud and larceny are down as well.
Carjacking’s are also down by over 40% from 2023. Last year, auto thefts saw a dramatic increase. This was in part due to viral social media trends that exploited security flaws in Hyundai and Kia cars.
There are some increases though. Commercial burglaries, shoplifting, noncommercial robberies and assault by intimidation have increased from last year.
Furthermore, Farag stated that compared to pre-pandemic levels, crime is still up despite “meaningful crime reductions.”
Various factors have contributed to the decrease of crimes in the county. County Assistant Chief of Police Darren Francke credited intensive policing efforts and policy changes. He also cited an improvement in communicating with residents and communities.
“We had a great story about disrupting gold bar scams…And through our efforts to communicate, now people are more aware of it, which is really what we were looking for to prevent future victims,” said Francke.
County police are also planning to work with first responders and MoCoConnect to “holistically go after crimes.”
“We want to create the message that number one: crime isn’t tolerated in the county, and number two: we’re putting the resources out there to disrupt you. Don’t bring it here,” said Francke.
