Washington Post-University of Maryland polls shows crime is the No. 1 concern for voters in D.C.’s Maryland suburbs. And crimes stats in fact show crime is up.
The percentage of voters in D.C.'s closest Maryland suburbs who say crime is the state’s biggest problem has risen sharply, from 7 percent in 2019 to 30 percent today, according to aThe poll found a dramatic shift in how voters rank their concerns. Five years ago, in listing Maryland’s most pressing problems, voters in Prince George’s County cited public schools far ahead of crime, which was matched or exceeded by public taxes, affordable housing, and roads and transit.
Carjackings are a big problem. In Prince George’s, they increased from 86 in 2019 to 508 last year. In Montgomery, long known for its swaths of relatively safe neighborhoods in the Bethesda and Potomac areas, carjackings were rare five years ago — just 19 in 2019. Last year there were 99, according to county data.
While homicides and carjackings get plenty of attention, another crime — auto theft — affects far more residents. Prince George’s had 8,543 such cases in 2023, more than double the previous year’s total. Recent figures are more encouraging, showing a dip of 26 percent in car thefts for the first part of 2024. In Montgomery, car theft is still increasing, although not to the degree that it did last year. And street robberies are up again in 2024, as they were in the previous two years.
The Post-UMD poll shows that, as an issue, crime is No. 1 for men and women . Among Republicans, 42 percent sayOne crosscurrent in the results: While voters expressed concerns over crime in general — specifically gun violence, carjackings and teens committing crimes — they felt relatively safe in their own neighborhoods.
In Montgomery, a police staffing shortage means that there is less police visibility and that officers do not necessarily have a chance to get out of their cars and walk though high-crime areas.
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