By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
Crime in Prince George’s County, Md., is on the decline– contrary to popular belief.
While the data indicates that policing efforts in Prince George’s are bearing fruit, residents’ perceptions of crime seemingly have not caught up with the actual data, authorities said.
“There’s no real answer for why there’s such a difference Prince George’s County residents between the actual homicide rate– which declined for 2024– and the perception of crime,” said Chief of Police Malik Aziz. “I’ll have to leave that to the criminologists and sociologists. But what I do know is we have to look back to 2020 through 2022, even the early months of 2023, when crime escalated out of control as the nation was overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Prince George’s reported 113 homicides in 2024 – a 5 percent decline from the previous year – while violent crime fell by 2 percent, according to crime data recently announced by the police department.
Even more impressive, Aziz noted that carjacking rates dropped by 33 percent – from 550 in 2023 to 340 in 2024.
Aziz said despite his best efforts, neither he, nor any of his contemporaries charged with leading police departments throughout the U.S., have been able to determine why crime rates surged at such disturbing rates during the pandemic.
But he does have some ideas.
“Remember that schools were closed, many businesses shuttered their doors, and a lot of jobs simply disappeared,” he said. “Meanwhile, youth were left without anything to do and had nowhere to go to let out steam in positive ways.”
As for analyzing and comparing trends in homicide and other crimes, the police chief said one must look at data going all the way back to 2019 to get an accurate read on whether things are getting better or worse today.
“For me, it’s like we all fell asleep and then woke up with several years missing,” he said. “As we move forward in 2025 and ramp up efforts to decrease crime, comparisons in trends can only be made by looking at the last three months of 2023 and all of 2024 as normalized years.”
Aziz points to the challenges ahead, suggests potential solutions
Among the major hurdles facing the department is the inability to recruit enough officers to handle the volume of security challenges in the county.
“Like most states, Maryland is experiencing a decline in applicants for police department positions and that has resulted in staffing crises. Prince George’s County finds itself in a similar situation,” Aziz said. “At the same time, crime has continued to rise in many categories.”
The county is utilizing new and innovative ways to counter those challenges, the chief said.
“Here in Prince George’s, we are looking to use new forms of technology to counter the shortage in staff,” he said. “Further, we’re optimistic about the new Gun Crimes Unit, which we created last year and which we believe will continue to help reduce the homicide rate. We’re still aiming to get that number below 100 which is something we haven’t been able to achieve in the past several years.”
The police chief returned to the issue of perceptions versus actual data and used the example of carjackings for illustrative purposes.
“It’s great to be able to report that carjackings declined by 33 percent in 2024 but we still had 340 carjackings – we still have a problem,” he said. “So, it’s easy to understand why the perception is that we have a much bigger problem. We still need to drill down and focus on the individuals who are driving up the numbers.
“But it’s more than just police work. We need our partners to step up and assist us: juvenile services, judges, elected officials, members of the community. We must all work in tandem to reduce crime,” Aziz said.
Prince George’s County residents can expect to see Chief Aziz and his staff traversing the county, showing up in places that may seem strange to some but essential for both improving perceptions and impacting crime rates.
“Don’t be surprised to see us at a town hall or community meeting,” he said. “We may drop by a neighborhood watch initiative, visit a school, sit down for a chat at your favorite diner or restaurant – even the corner gas station and the most-frequented grocery store.”
Aziz added, “We want to hear what people have to say because there is no one solution to reducing crime. There’s no single answer or strategy that one can point to as a panacea for crime reduction. No, there’s no silver bullet.”
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