Prince George’s crime down across the board

Crime is down across the board in Prince George’s County, officials announced with great fanfare Wednesday.

The most celebrated reduction was the number of homicides recorded in the county which decreased from 95 for all of last year to 61 so far this year.

A total of 29,135 crimes were recorded through Monday of this year compared to the 31,375 crimes recorded through all of last year, according to data provided by a county police spokesman.

Police Chief Mark A. Magaw called the reductions “staggering” and pointed to the county’s new holistic approach, the Transforming Neighborhoods Initiative, which brings police together with other county departments to provide needed services in high crime neighborhoods.

“That’s the philosophy change. If you haven’t realized it by now, there is a renaissance on the way in this county,” Chief Magaw said at a news conference attended by Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks. “I’m excited about where we are going … and the reductions that we are going to continue to have in 2013.”

The county recorded more thefts than any other category of crime. The year so far has had 16,070 thefts, compared to 16,147 for all of 2011.

In other categories, the number of assaults recorded this year is at 2,422 compared to 2,597 last year. Car thefts, which have historically been a problem across the county, were down to 4,294 incidents this year compared to 5,045 incidents for all of last year.

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