The Cheverly Police Department is crediting a combination of residents with watchful eyes and partnerships with Prince George's County police for a decrease in crime since 2010 and to levels almost as low as in 1989.
Ann Barsi, who has lived in Cheverly for 13 years, said the town police's partnership with residents, such as through the Cheverly Watch Radio Program, has made the difference. The community policing initiative gives radios to residents to report crime in real time to Cheverly police officers.
"Everybody in town has talked about how this is something unique to Cheverly and that's become another arm of our police department that's really helping and that's where we're getting that decrease in crime," Barsi said. "It's extra sets of eyes that's saying, 'Hey something fishy is going on here. Come look.’”
The biggest drops from 2010 to 2011 came in burglaries and robberies, with a 67 percent decrease in robberies — from 21 to 7 — and a 35 percent drop in burglaries from 67 to 43, said Cheverly Police Chief Buddy Robshaw, who started the radio program in September 2008. The year 2008 ended with 55 burglaries and 24 robberies. There were 267 criminal incidents total in 2011, compared with 263 in 1989, Robshaw said.
Radios cost the department $250 each and come from the police line item of the town’s budget, said Robshaw and Cheverly town administrator David Warrington. The overall town police budget is about $1.4 million, Warrington said. Robshaw does not release the identities of program participants because their contact information is confidential, but said there are 50 radios in use.
Many residents work at night so most incidents get called in during the daytime hours, he said. The actual number of people using the radios could be at least 80 because there are married couples who share radio usage, Robshaw said.
Robshaw said his department's work with the county police’s District 3, which covers areas such as Landover and Capitol Heights, helped close out at least three burglary rings in April, June and September that accounted for more than four dozen town burglaries.
Most offenders were men in their mid-20s who came from nearby areas such as Kentland and Palmer Park and were linked to other county break-ins, Robshaw said.
"They were almost all adults," Robshaw said. "Very rarely do we get a juvenile committing burglary. Most of them are adults nowadays. I thought that was a little unusual."
According to the 2010 census there are 6,173 Cheverly residents, and there are 14 full-time town police officers in Cheverly, not including Robshaw, he said. The town is mostly single-family homes but includes the Cheverly Station Apartments. Overall, Cheverly police arrested 499 people in 2011 compared with 511 in 2010, Robshaw said.
In cities with similar populations to Cheverly, such as Glenarden, which has about 6,000 residents, there was a slight increase in burglaries from 35 to 38 from 2010 to 2011. But Glenarden still only had a little more than half of the burglaries Cheverly had in 2010.
Glenarden Police Chief Phil O'Donnell said every town has its own unique issues but noted Cheverly "is in the heart of Route 50" and closer to the Washington, D.C., line, which could give criminals easier access in and out of the town.
However, municipal partnerships with the county police are common when it comes to spikes in crimes such as breaking and entering. Glenarden worked with Prince George's County police to solve 18 burglaries in June 2011, O'Donnell said. There are 11 full-time Glenarden police officers including O'Donnell.
"When you're having a real rash of serious crime, you really have to depend on the county to help us because you know a lot of times people will commit a crime in Glenarden and then they'll go across the street and do the same thing in Landover or Largo," O'Donnell said.
Other drops in Cheverly crime include 32 assaults in 2011 compared with 38 in 2010, and 46 acts of vandalism compared with 62 in 2010.
Glenarden had a drop in assaults from 40 in 2010 to 33 in 2011. Glenarden does not keep vandalism statistics.
nmcgill@gazette.net
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