To keep this year's homicide rate down, the Prince George's County Police Department has begun 2012 with a surge: Every day this month, 150 additional officers are taking to the streets.

The county ended 2011 with 95 criminal homicides, five more than in 2010. Fifteen of the 2011 homicides occurred in January, an unusually violent month that police officials said was an anomaly.

Overall violent crime, which includes rape and assault, decreased 11.8 percent from 2010, and property crime decreased 10.3 percent, according to police.

This year's increased deployment is an effort to keep the numbers down, officials said.

"They consist of uniform patrols, undercover patrols and surveillance," said Maj. George Nader, commander of the department's third district, which includes Landover and District Heights. "We're really trying to prevent [acts of violence] from even occurring."

As of Jan. 17, the county had three homicides. By mid-January of last year, there had been 13.

The additional patrols are focused in three of the department's six patrol districts: District 1, which includes Hyattsville, College Park and the Port Towns communities, had 23 homicides in 2011; District 3 had 27; and District 4, which includes Temple Hills, Accokeek and Fort Washington, had 35, up from 15 in 2011, according to data provided by county police.

Officers on the detail are shifting their normal schedules to accommodate the additional patrols, which will last until the end of this month, according to police.

Of the District 4 homicides, drug-related incidents were the most common, said Capt. Oscar Rodriguez, the assistant commander of District 4, who cited population increases in some areas, such as Hillcrest Heights, as a factor in the rise. Population increases are often accompanied by increases in crime, said Rodriguez, who did not have data on the amount of growth in the areas.

According to U.S. Census data, the population of Hillcrest Heights grew less than 1 percent between 2000 and 2010.

Earle Gumbs, a Temple Hills resident and president of the Hillcrest-Marlow Heights Civic Association, said the population-increase explanation was plausible and that he had observed more families moving into the area in recent years.

Gumbs praised the efforts of county police and said that while he would always like to see more patrols, he felt the department was doing a good job with its resources.

Barry Schlossberg, a member of the Citizen's Advisory Council for District 5, which meets periodically with command staff to address crime and quality-of-life issues, said he was pleased with the police initiative, particularly after the success it had with a similar strategy last summer.

The summer initiative, which lasted from late May to early September, included more patrols and an increased push for crime awareness and education among residents in five target areas: Hillcrest Heights, Langley Park, Glassmanor, Riverdale and Suitland. In some areas, assaults, robberies, rapes and homicides dropped as much as 22 percent over the previous summer due to the initiative, according to police.

"They're definitely doing something right," Schlossberg said.

The county is developing an ongoing strategy to curb crime in 2012, one that will likely focus on increasing community involvement and partnership with police, according to Barry Stanton, deputy chief administrative officer for public safety.

dleaderman@gazette.net