CRIME-FIGHTING EFFORTS ARE PAYING OFF, POLICE SAY

Bigger Force, Refocused Beats Curbing Illegal Activity, Police Say

By Joshua Partlow Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, November 19, 2006; C06

A group of young men wearing dark jackets stood next to a chain-link
fence along Greenleaf Road one recent evening when Maj. Markus A.
Summers, giving a tour of his Prince George's County police district,
drove past.

"Here's a pocket of it, right here," he said.

He pulled over. With something akin to casual hurrying, the men began
to disperse. Summers jumped out of the car.

"You smell marijuana? I smell marijuana," he said, as he herded four
of the men to the fence. "Spread out! Spread out!"

Summers and his officers interviewed and searched the men, found
nothing and told them to go home. Summers said that there had been two
homicides near the corner within the past month and that he wanted his
officers to disrupt any congregation that looked shady.

"There's no rocket science to this. There's no mystery. Stop them.
Talk to them. Get them on their way," he said. "It's about constant
vigilance. Because these people that are hanging out here, it's a
recipe for something bad to happen. . . . What we're really trying to
do is modify people's behavior."

Prince George's police officials say they are making progress. Crime
numbers have decreased significantly from last year -- especially in
the swath bordering the District, which is considered a top priority
for the department.

Police attribute the decline to several factors: an increase in
staffing that allows more police visibility and interaction with
residents, increased reliance on computer technology to analyze crime
trends and deploy officers to trouble spots, and a return to smaller,
more manageable beats.

Police union officials, however, say that the officers are still
stretched too thin despite recent hires, and they worry that violent
crime numbers are alarmingly high.

The challenges fall to men such as Summers, who commands District III,
a 30-square-mile swath of the county. It's the middle of the three
"line" districts that border Washington to the east.

"This is something that we eat, sleep and breathe," he said. "There is
not a waking moment that we don't think about stopping crime."

The department had a year of record crime in 2005, when the county's
homicide total reached 173, the highest in its history. In contrast,
through the first half of this year, the number of major crimes has
dropped 15.1 percent from the same period last year -- the largest
reduction in the state. In the three line districts, homicides through
September have fallen from 87 last year to 57 this year, and the
number of stolen vehicles is down from 7,604 to 5,462.

Police officials point to the increased number of officers: There are
1,397 this year, up from 1,346 in the last fiscal year, according to
county statistics. Large classes are moving through the academy.
Still, the county has less than the budgeted strength of 1,597
officers, and its goal over the next few years is to reach 1,800.

Some officers say that an infusion of additional overtime funds has
allowed more experienced officers to work longer. They also note that
the department was galvanized by the death of Cpl. Steven Gaughan, who
was gunned down on duty in June 2005. And officers cite the change in
beat structures -- making patrol officers responsible for smaller
territories -- as an important tactical improvement.

"We are definitely not where we want to be, but we are moving in the
right direction," Summers said.

The changes play into a strategy that police commanders say is
intended to increase the visibility of officers in trouble spots --
particularly close to the District -- by conducting more traffic stops
and field interviews, seizing guns and analyzing crime trends to head
off trouble.

The number of traffic stops through the first nine months of the year
is more than three times what it was in the first nine months of 2004,
and the number of field observations -- such as the encounter with the
loiterers on Greenleaf Road -- has almost tripled since last year.

The department has incorporated ComStat, a computer program that
tracks crimes in neighborhoods, into its culture. Commanders must
account for the previous day's crime numbers every morning in a
meeting with the chief. The technology helps to monitor crime trends
and deploy officers, officers said.

"We're saturating areas where we know we have problems," said Maj. Lee
James, commander of District IV, which is south of Summers's district.

James said he focuses on a six-to seven-square-mile area in District
IV along the District's southeastern border. "If I can stop crime
here," he said, running his hand over a map in his office, "I know it
will thin out further south. . . . It's almost like the Israel-Lebanon
situation -- if I can stop it at the border, I can help everyone."

In the half-mile area of Prince George's bordering the District --
which accounts for 3.5 percent of county territory but a quarter of
its homicides last year -- police said that in the first half of the
year, the number of stolen vehicles dropped from 1,356 to 560, thefts
from 1,748 to 854 and homicides from 19 to 11.

"Through proactive stops out there, of anything or anyone that is
suspicious, people are getting the message," James said.

Still, in the first two weeks of November, there were 11 homicides,
raising the count this year to 113 -- more than the total in five of
the past 10 years.

"While we've brought it down from the all-time high, we're still at
some pretty staggering numbers," said Percy Alston, president of the
Prince George's police union. "In the beginning part of the year, we
were putting more officers on patrol. We've started to revert back to
our old ways."

Alston warned of putting too many officers in special assignments and
taking them away from beat patrols.

Sharon Taylor, a police spokeswoman, said that department staffing has
grown to the point that it "has greatly improved our ability to put
manpower on our special teams and put manpower on the street."

Alston said that in his discussions with patrol officers, he is told
that they feel stretched too thin.

"These guys are not doing community policing, they're not out there
talking to business owners," he said. "They're just running from call
to call to call. They run from domestic violence to robbery to
shooting to stabbing."

As the tour neared its end, Summers drove back past Greenleaf Road.
Some of the same men were standing in two yards on opposite sides of
the street. Summers parked the car and went up to one.

"You know what I suspect? I suspect you're selling
drugs."

"I don't sell drugs," he said.

"You know it's much too cold to be out here. You up to no
good."

"I'm chillin'."

"I'll bet you are."

Summers got back in the car. He ordered a police cruiser to park in
front of the house for the night and to check on a parked car with
Virginia tags.

"They are not afraid of the police. It's almost defying the police to
engage them. And to the extent that we walk away, they proliferate,"
he said. "But we cannot allow them to overpower us."

He surveyed the street. The two groups of people were selling drugs,
he said.

"But they ain't going to do it tonight," he said. "They might do it
tomorrow, but they are not going to do it tonight."

[sidebar]

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT: BY THE NUMBERS

15.1

Percentage drop in major crime in the first six months of this year
compared with the same period last year.

1,397

Number of officers in Prince George's County, up from 1,346 lastfiscal year.

70,658

Number of traffic stops conducted through the first nine months of
this year, up from 21,376 in the first nine months of 2004. Field
observations nearly tripled to 24,796 this year.

1,212

Number of guns police seized through September, up from 1,136 by that
time last year.

$27.9 million

Value of drugs seized through September, up from $22 million by that
time last year.