A Crime Wave Wanes

SINCE THE beginning of the year, someone has been murdered about every three days in Prince George's County. That's quite an improvement. In 2005, the county, on average, had a homicide every other day.

Last week, Prince George's Police Chief Melvin C. High held a news conference to tout an impressive drop in crime. Sixty-one people have been killed this year, compared with 84 this time last year. Commercial robberies have declined 49 percent, and carjackings are down 27 percent. This in a county once saddled with surging crime rates -- from 2000 to 2005, robbery and car thefts increased 76 percent and carjacking climbed 175 percent.

The police department is also closing more cases. Prince George's police have closed 43 percent of robbery cases vs. 6 percent at the same point last year. Seventy percent of homicide investigations have been closed, up from 43 percent.

These positive crime statistics are an achievement for Mr. High and his police department, which has recruited needed manpower -- next month, the number of police officers in Prince George's will finally top 1,400. The department plans to retain more than 1,500 sworn officers by March 2007. Beyond adding officers, the department's targeting of crime hot spots such as areas bordering the District and its aggressive confiscation of guns and illegal drugs seem to be working. Mr. High said last year that guns were used in 82 percent of homicides, 67 percent of which also involved drugs.

But the job is not finished.

After new recruits join the force, Prince George's County still won't have enough officers -- 1,500 for a county of 850,000 is about 1 police officer for every 567 residents in a large region of spread-out communities. Crime is still endemic. At least 96 women have reported being raped in Prince George's since Jan. 1. And the county will have to deal with the distressingly rapid growth in gang membership in Southern Maryland; in neighboring Baltimore, sets of the Bloods, a notorious Los Angeles street gang, have multiplied fourteenfold just in the past year. Fighting gang violence in particular will require more detectives and intelligence officers.

Still, Prince George's County is getting safer. Let's hope this becomes a real trend, not just a brief respite.