The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COGs) just released their annual “Crime and Crime Control” report today, October 19, 2023.
Copies of the report go back 10+ years and detail how the DC Metro region is faring with regards to crime, violent, property or other.
Right off the bat, the executive summary of the report spells it out:
“A sharp rise in motor vehicle thefts and larceny” in the region. Oh? You don’t say.
This jibes with many anecdotal stories on NextDoor.com in Montgomery County, detailing rising vehicle break-ins and vehicle theft.
This poster did, thankfully, see their car again.
That was from this past August, 2023.
Car theft and vandalization is no laughing matter. It is a violation of someone’s personal property rights and a direct assault on their labor and time — in essence, their human capital. People work to pay their car notes and afford a personal ride to work or class or entertainment. Someone’s burglary or your car or outright theft of it should be, frankly, a top-level offense. People work hard and long hours to afford reliable cars for travel and personal enjoyment. Some criminal’s violation of that is an affront to civilized society.
A chart on page eight of the report reveals more. Montgomery County had over 1,500 motor vehicle thefts and over 12,600 larceny (theft of personal property) crimes. This latter stat topped neighboring PG County, MD. Yes, I understand MoCo has a slightly larger population.
The yearly trends aren’t encouraging, and the Montgomery County Council has no real plan to stem the tide. Many on the current County Council have demoralized local police via various legislative “ideas” and general public diatribes.
MoCo public safety advocate and prior County Council candidate (2022) Cheryl Riley, reached for comment, said:
the large number of unfilled MoCo police positions impacts people’s quality of life and property protection. We currently have 176 unfilled positions and response times by police have been slowly headed higher. What used to be 8 minutes is now 9, 10 or 15 minutes. Victims of car theft or vandalization deserve justice.
Indeed. When seconds matter, the police can and will be minutes away now in MoCo. Why can’t the County Council bring rational policy and funding to our public safety sector?
More to come.
