Governor Martin O'Malley, Mayor Adrian Fenty Announce Continued Public Safety Cross-Border Partnership
Commitment to regular sessions enhances coordinated crime reduction efforts throughout region
WASHINGTON, DC (April 2, 2009) –Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Washington, DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty met today to discuss ongoing efforts to enhance cross-border coordination in improving public safety throughout the region. In addressing the media, the leaders announced the establishment of regular joint sessions that will focus on implementing regional commitments to public safety and other initiatives, and measuring the attainment of the regional goals through Maryland’s StateStat office and the District’s CapStat program. These regional public safety commitments include information sharing on high risk offenders, expediting the execution of warrants for individuals wanted by another jurisdiction, tracking progress on monitoring repeat violent offenders and other issues.
“Our most solemn obligation to our citizens is protecting the public safety, improving the quality of life for working families throughout our region,” said Governor O’Malley. “Crime does not stop at the border, and criminals know the shortcomings of law enforcement agencies that don’t talk to each other. These cross-border partnerships are built on effective principles that enhance public safety and stop violent offenders in their tracks.”
“We welcome this great opportunity to partner with Maryland as we continue our work to ensure public safety for District residents,” said Mayor Fenty. “Working together to improve our information-sharing capabilities is a win-win for better law enforcement practices and for protecting citizens throughout our region.”
In September 2008, Mayor Fenty, Governor O’Malley and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine held a regional summit to discuss cross-border crime and techniques to reduce it. Regional leaders agreed to several, coordinated crime prevention efforts, including improved regional supervision of offenders through identification of the most violent area offenders, information-sharing between probation officers and local police departments, and containing violent offenders by assigning them to handpicked agents with lighter caseloads. This agreement effectively opened the borders between jurisdictions while providing essential tracking information of the activities of violent offenders in the area.
This regional collaboration, information-sharing, and needs assessment is a first-in-the-nation for cross-border, regional cooperative efforts. The agreement also empowers public safety officials to not only share data, but also to hold violent offenders accountable for their actions. For the last year and a half, Maryland has shared live arrest data with D.C. to enable Parole and Probation to get serial offenders off the street. So far, information is shared on an average of 200 offenders per month.
Since the September summit, local and state law enforcement officials have facilitated bimonthly planning sessions with parole, probation and juvenile justice officials from Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia to develop a regional crime prevention strategy and identify goals and deliverables. The Metropolitan Police Department has developed the Most Violent Person (MVP) List of offenders who have multiple violent offenses, at least one gun charge, and a history of parole or probation violations in order to focus law enforcement activities on the region’s most violent offenders. The region has also implemented a joint warrant task force, a collaboration between the local and state governments in Maryland and the District, as well as with the US Marshals Service. The task force works to apprehend dangerous fugitives across jurisdictions.
During the current legislative session in Maryland, the O’Malley-Brown Administration proposed legislation allowing the sharing of Maryland juvenile court records with other states and the District of Columbia, as well as with other state and federal agencies that perform the same function as the Department of Juvenile Services.
In 2008, Maryland and Washington, D.C. exchanged information on more than 1,500 adult offenders as part of an initiative to exchange live data with Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and counterparts in D.C. During this time, the Prince George’s Police Department reported a six percent decrease in homicides from 2007 to 2008. Over this same time period, violent crime decreased by nearly nine percent and overall crime declined by nearly four percent in Prince George’s County.
