Crime Down for D.C. Region but Up for Bowie

The Metropolitan Council of Government released its Annual Report on Crime and Crime Control 2009 last week. The good news for the D.C. region is that the more serious crimes (known as the part 1 crimes) are down nearly 8 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, the statistics reported by the City of Bowie Police Department show a 12 percent year-over-year increase for Bowie.
The Maryland jurisdictions included in the study had an 11% decrease in part 1 crimes, compared with 6.2% for D.C. and 4.0 for Virginia. The report credits cooperation among law enforcement agencies as one of the contributing factors for the decrease.

Continued cooperation and communication among agencies throughout the NCR will further enable jurisdictions to work toward continued reductions in major crimes. The use of innovative technologies, including License Plate Readers, and computers and GPS in police cars, as well as other enhanced data sharing technologies available to officers, such as LInX, has enabled the NCR to improve its crime reduction efforts during this period of economic downturn.

Related Links

• The Metropolitan Council of Governments' press release announcing the report.
  
• The Metropolitan Council of Governments' Annual Report on Crime and Crime Control 2009 report.
• Related story from the The Breaking News Blog