Pr. George's Community a Sanctuary No More

Three miles beyond the Capital Beltway, Woodmore South seems far removed from the violence and fear that has infested some Prince George's County neighborhoods.

The upscale subdivision, with its rolling green lawns along wide and winding roads, reflects what draws many residents to the county: a chance for a classic suburban life in a community where most neighbors and political leaders are African American.

But consider the past several months: In June, a Woodmore South boy was beaten at nearby Six Flags America, and a teenage girl was shot after leaving a neighborhood graduation party. At one nearby shopping mall, a young man was beaten to death in early November. At another, a District man was shot Dec. 10. Earlier that day, an argument at a popular restaurant led to a fatal shooting a few blocks away.

"Sometimes it feels like crime is everywhere in Prince George's," said Pamela Gaines, who moved from Dupont Circle to Woodmore South, a subdivision in Mitchellville, nine years ago.

The county and its incorporated cities recorded 173 homicides in 2005 -- surpassing the record 154 set during the crack epidemic in 1991 -- and a car was stolen every half hour. Although most of the crime remains concentrated inside the Beltway, residents in such suburban enclaves as Mitchellville, Bowie and Fort Washington are going through an upheaval, psychic and otherwise.

Some residents, who fled crime in the District a generation ago, are considering leaving Prince George's. Others, still drawn by the appeal of one of the nation's largest black, middle-class communities, are staying put -- but fortifying their homes and hiring off-duty police officers.

Some have lost faith in a county police department stretched thin by rapid growth: In November, Bowie voters decided overwhelmingly to set up their own department, and College Park residents gave their City Council the option.

Just as telling and troubling, the rise in crime has fueled perceptions among some middle-income residents that their low-income neighbors from the District or elsewhere in the county are preying on their prosperity.

No one has produced data showing where the criminals come from. But Prince George's law enforcement officials, who are working with a University of Maryland criminologist to study trends in homicides, said they are curious to see whether people coming from the District's low-income neighborhoods have contributed to the county's escalating homicide rate.

"My hunch would be that there probably is some of that occurring with people displaced from the District," said State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey. "Having said that, however, I don't think we should use that as a crutch."

Arthur Turner, a civic leader in central Prince George's, pointed to the 2003 closing of East Capital Dwellings, a public housing complex just inside the District line. "That area had a lot of crime," he said. "When it closed, where do you think those people went? They came to Prince George's County, and their vices, maladies and troubles crossed over the line into Prince George's."

He was one of few residents who would articulate publicly what has become Topic A of neighborhood gossip and dinner party chatter.