City of Takoma Park, Maryland
Preliminary Public Safety Recommendations
The size and location of our City led an officer to say, "Takoma Park is like the eye of the hurricane. We're an oasis of tranquillity surrounded by the chaos and crime of [the surrounding neighborhoods]."
In fact, Takoma Park residents feel safer within our City's borders than they do in many of the neighborhoods immediately across our borders. This does not, however, make the crime in Takoma Park any more palatable. Any crime within our City is unacceptable.
Since nearly 40% of those arrested in Takoma Park reside outside of our City, it is imperative that the City works with neighboring communities, for our efforts to reduce crime to be successful.
The Police Department currently works with the adjoining jurisdictions to solve crimes. Operation Outreach, described earlier in this document, is an example of a successful inter-jurisdictional program initiated by our Police Department.
The City Police Department should take aggressive steps to build even stronger working relationships with those jurisdictions. This cooperation should be ongoing and should become a normal part of policing in Takoma Park. Inter-jurisdictional cooperation should not merely be an approach to solving isolated problems.
Just as the police from the various neighboring jurisdictions must work together to enhance our safety, the appropriate City planning and economic development personnel should also establish and maintain strong working relationships with those jurisdictions.
For consistency reasons, the City should consider assigning one person from the Police Department with the responsibility for working with those jurisdictions. Another person should be assigned for economic development.
Identify and Focus on High Risk Targets
Resident perceptions shared during the focus groups show that people don't feel safe in many of Takoma Park's neighborhoods. Many of these are areas abut other jurisdictions. The following is a partial list of the areas mentioned:
In order to address this problem, the Takoma Park Police Department should work to identify which of these areas really have high crime rates. Measures should then be taken to reduce crime in these areas.
Those neighborhoods perceived to have high crime rates, but where the statistics don't support the perception should also be addressed. The City should look at those areas and determine if there are corrective actions that can improve the feeling of safety for our residents.
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