Hogan Administration, County Executive Schuh Announce Expansion of Safe Streets Initiative
Program Now Includes Northern Anne Arundel County
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford and Anne Arundel County Executive Steve Schuh today announced the expansion of the successful Maryland Safe Streets Initiative to the northern areas of Anne Arundel County, including Brooklyn Park, Pasadena, and Odenton. The Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention has awarded $249,305 in state funding for northern Anne Arundel County, which is the ninth Safe Streets Initiative site in Maryland. The Anne Arundel County Police Department is the lead law enforcement agency for this Safe Streets Coalition Team and will work closely with other law enforcement and criminal justice agencies in the region.
“Governor Hogan and I are committed to the Safe Streets Initiative because it is a model program that works,” said Lt. Governor Rutherford. “Safe Streets dramatically reduces crime by applying the common sense measure of bringing together criminal justice partners in a jurisdiction to work together and identify and pursue those offenders who are responsible for most of the violent offenses in an area.”
“This program expands our ongoing efforts to ensure that Anne Arundel County residents live in the safest neighborhoods possible,” said County Executive Steve Schuh. “The elements of a Safe Streets program help our criminal justice partners work collaboratively to identify and deal with those individuals who break the law.”
“The multi-jurisdictional relationships formed through the Safe Streets program have proven invaluable to the Anne Arundel County Police Department,” said Police Chief Tim Altomare. “Our partnerships ensure that violent criminals and repeat offenders are not only taken off our streets quickly, but are successfully prosecuted and convicted, thus making our communities safer for everyone.”
“The additional Safe Streets funding will allow my office to conduct intensive warrant sweeps in partnership with the county police department,” said Sheriff Ron Bateman. “This focus on violent repeat offenders will improve the quality of life for the citizens of Anne Arundel County.”
“Governor Hogan's Safe Streets Grant is a valuable tool that my office uses to prosecute criminals that repeatedly target citizens in our county,” said Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Wes Adams. “These repeat criminals need to be in jail and not on the streets. On behalf of the citizens of Anne Arundel County, I want to thank Governor Hogan and his Office of Crime Control & Prevention for selecting northern Anne Arundel County for this grant.”
Funding for the $249,305 grant for northern Anne Arundel County began on July 1, 2015, and will run through June 30, 2016. The grant is part of $1,640,106 the State of Maryland has committed for the current fiscal year under the Safe Streets Initiative.
The objective of Safe Streets is to significantly reduce violent crime through seamless coordination, consistent interagency collaboration, and information-sharing by focusing on the core group of offenders who commit the majority of violent offenses locally. The Governor’s Office of Crime Control & Prevention forms partnerships with local jurisdictions that demonstrate both a need for and commitment to comprehensive collaboration across their local criminal justice systems. Typically the Initiative involves coalitions of local and state law enforcement, prosecutors, the Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services, and the Department of Juvenile Services.
The Safe Streets model has proven to be an effective tool in reducing crime. In Annapolis, the first Safe Streets Initiative site, there has been a 62.5 percent reduction in crime. Salisbury, the second Safe Streets Initiative site, has seen a 49.2 percent reduction in crime since the program’s inception.
