Mayor and Council to Discuss 68% Increase in Car Thefts
At its Monday, February 26, 2024 meeting, the Rockville Mayor and Council will discuss 2024 state legislation and community engagement plans. On the Consent Agenda (items approved without discussion) are a transportation grant agreement and purchasing of three different types of trucks, among others. The Mayor and Council will also receive reports on police statistics and recognize the Richard Montgomery High School Girls Varsity Volleyball Team on winning the state 4A Championship.
For the first time, the Rockville City Police Department (RCPD) shared its annual statistics on crime and their report states that “thefts of automobiles and thefts from automobiles remain one of the highest reported criminal offenses in the region and across the nation. The RCPD noted an increase in theft of automobiles by 69 from 2022 to 2023, an increase of 68%. Thefts from automobiles were up by 19 from 2022 to 2023, an increase of 2%. The most noteworthy change in crime reporting was Carjackings. Carjackings have been on the rise, locally, regionally, and nationally.” Furthermore, “Montgomery County Department of Police re-deployed personnel assigned to the Rockville District to other areas of Montgomery County. This has left parts of the city that once had dual police coverage between the RCPD and the Montgomery County Department of Police to be policed solely by the RCPD.” That resulted in a significant increase in calls for help to RCPD and a significant reduction in response time (“on average, for every additional 1,000 calls dispatched to police per month, officers arrive nine minutes slower”). More on pages 12-20.
The City Council will discuss legislation being introduced at the state level and which they will support or oppose. Under discussion are SB484: Housing Expansion and Affordability; SB537: Restrictions on Cannabis Licensee Locations; SB 783/HB 1435: Renewable Energy (Net Energy Metering Aggregation, Solar Renewable Energy Credits, and Taxes on Solar Energy Generating); HB 601/SB 442: Prohibiting Street Racing and Exhibition Driving; and HB 1306 Taxing Food and Beverages. These bills are complex and continually revised, so if you have an interest, read the staff report for a summary and recommendations (pages 190-200) or contact Senator Kagan or Delegates Palakovich-Carr, Vogel, and Spiegel.
Potential topics for the March 4, 2024 meeting is a presentation on the FY2025 budget and approval of taxes and fees.
The Mayor and Council are conducting hybrid meetings. If you wish to submit comments in writing for Community Forum or Public Hearings, please email the comments to MayorAndCouncil@RockvilleMD.gov by no later than 10:00 a.m. on the date of the meeting.
More details in the 205-page agenda packet are available at https://www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02262024-7117.
Rockville Mayor and Council Set to Approve Tower Oaks Development in Final Meeting for Newton and Feinberg
At its Monday, October 30, 2023 meeting, the Rockville Mayor and Council will approve the Tower Oaks townhouse development, possibly adopt the pedestrian master plan, and discuss the City’s personnel manual and County’s development impact tax. On the Consent Calendar (items approved without discussion) are right-of-way agreements for Joseph Street, reclassifying a private road to a public street with waivers for the Tower Oaks townhouse development, contracts to perform stormwater cleanouts, asphalt-concrete improvements to city parks, for the Linkages-to-Learning program and Senior Nutrition Program, among others. The Mayor and Council will also receive reports on the police department deployment plan (which includes the most recent crime report for Rockville, see figure 1). Strangely, the recent issues with the election are not on the agenda (but I suspect they will be mentioned in Community Forum).
This will be the last Mayor and Council meeting attended by Mayor Bridget Newton and Councilmember Beryl Feinberg because they are not seeking re-election; a reception in their honor will be held at 5:00 pm.
The Mayor and Council are conducting hybrid meetings. If you wish to submit comments in writing for Community Forum or Public Hearings, please email the comments to MayorAndCouncil@RockvilleMD.gov by no later than 10:00 a.m. on the date of the meeting.
More details in the 320-page agenda packet are available at https://www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10302023-7043.
Is Your Neighborhood Safe?
You can figure this out for yourself at CrimeReports.com. The Montgomery County Police Department shares their crime reports (which includes the City of Rockville) with CrimeReports, a private firm based in Utah, which combines it with police departments from around the country to display the information on an interactive map.
The map show various colored and lettered icons so you can quickly spot where things happened in your neighborhood. For example, A is for Assault, TV is Theft from a Vehicle, and R is Robbery. You can also choose the time period to examine as well as zoom in or out (or check out what’s happening elsewhere in the country–it’s a national database). If you know something about an incident or crime, you can share an anonymous tip.
Do be aware there are some weaknesses in the map:
- There seems to be a 24-48 hour delay. If something happened today, it probably won’t show up until tomorrow or the next day.
- Locations are not exact. It records where the report was taken, not necessarily where the incident occurred. For the sake of victim privacy, all crime addresses have been rounded to the block level (e.g. 800 block of Viers Mill Road).
- There are no details. For example, it’ll tell you the approximate location and time of an assault or robbery, but not identify the victims, mention if anyone was arrested, what was stolen, or the extent of injuries (e.g, punched? stabbed? hospitalized?). CrimeReports relies on individual law enforcement agencies to provide details on crimes. Each agency is different and may provide more or less crime information than others. At minimum, CrimeReports requires four items of information when mapping crimes: type, location, date, and time. All additional information is voluntarily supplied by individual law enforcement agencies.
- It may not be complete. On Monday, July 21, Janice Land and John Land of the 1600 block of Crawford Drive were arrested with two counts of vulnerable adult abuse and attempted false imprisonment (keeping their twin 22-year old autistic sons locked in the basement). The incident made national news, but doesn’t show up on the map at all. Maybe tomorrow?
If you want further details, contact the Montgomery County Police Department at (240) 773-5330. Thanks to Crime Analyst Sherri Hendry of the Rockville Police Department for sharing this resource.
Max for Rockville 