WASHINGTON — Crime, and ways to prevent it, are top of mind of voters heading into the 2024 elections.
One of Maryland’s Senate hopefuls is bringing claims about her record as a prosecutor right to voters’ doorsteps.
Twitter/X account @DCNewsLive posted a photo of a flyer left at their door by the campaign of Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat running for Senate. Alsobrooks is currently the County Executive of Prince George's County and was the county's State's Attorney preceding that. The campaign material, describing her experience as State's Attorney, says in bold letters that "under her watch, crime dropped by over 50%" @DCNewsLive asked WUSA9 to verify if that claim was accurate.
QUESTION
Did crime decrease by 50% while Angela Alsobrooks was the Prince George's County State's Attorney?
SOURCES
Former Prince George's County Police Chief Hank Stawinski
ANSWER
During the years when Angela Alsobrooks was State's Attorney, violent crime and property crime each declined by more than half, though crime has increased since Alsobrooks became County Executive.
WHAT WE FOUND
Angela Alsobrooks served as State's Attorney of Prince George's County from January 2011 until December 2018.
The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program compiles crime data from thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country and is the primary national database of crime information.
It shows that the number of violent crimes in Prince George's County fell 51% during those seven years, and property crime decreased by slightly more than 50%
On Jan. 8, 2018, then-police chief Hank Stawinski, Sheriff Melvin C. High, Alsobrooks, and then-County Executive Rushern Baker held a news conference touting the crime reduction of the previous seven years.
“Simply stated, we had 103 crimes per day in Prince George’s County, Maryland, at the end of the day, on average, at the end of that year," Stawinski stated, pointing a chart showing the total number of crimes committed in the county during that span. "And here’s where we’ve concluded 2017, with, on average, 49 crimes per day. Do the math, it’s better than a 50% reduction.”
He said a whole-of-government approach and the work of his officers all contributed to the decline.
“Crime continues to trend downward in Prince George’s County," he explained, "because of the collective efforts of this institution, my predecessor, Chief Mark Magaw, our Sheriff, Melvin C. High, the former chief of this department, our State’s Attorney, Ms. Alsobrooks, and the leadership of our County Executive, Mr. Baker, who took a very different approach to crime in Prince George’s County and has allowed a lot of the things that you see happening on the streets of this community to actually take place.”
Alsobrooks echoed that sentiment in her comments that day.
"I believe," she added, "that we have been able, through our partnerships--both here, with our partners, and also with this community--to establish the kinds of relationships now where we have earned the trust of the public in the area of public safety; that they don't believe that we are perfect, but they believe that we care. They believe that we are competent, and on any given day, that has been so very important to this community. And, you know, the acts speak for themselves, the results speak for themselves."
Crime rates have risen, however, in the years since Alsobrooks became County Executive. According to the same FBI data, violent crime rose 30.5% and property crime rose 7.7% between 2018 and 2022, the last year for which statistics are available. During that time, Prince George's County also got a new State's Attorney and police chief. Sheriff John D. B. Carr was elected in 2022 and took office in December of that year.