Crime & Safety

Hyattsville Crime Decline Continues Into 2013

First six months of 2013 see big drops in just about all crime categories.

Reading the news over the last two months could give the impression that crime in Hyattsville is increasing, but mid-year crime statistics provided by the Hyattsville City Police Department show declines in almost all categories through the first half of the year. 

Total crime in Hyattsville is down more than 9.5 percent over the first six months of the year. Calls for service are down almost 9.3 percent in that time. The first half of the year also saw more than a 7.3 percent decline in crimes against persons. 

The declines continue a multi-year downward trend in reported criminal activity in Hyattsville, as well as Prince George's County. 

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"I think that there's a general trend in this area, and in Prince George's County as a whole, of crime reduction, and a general trend in reductions in violent crime," said Hyattsville's Chief of Police Doug Holland, who praised community members for their efforts to report crime and suspicious activity to police.

But as the crime rate declines, Hyattsville police have been increasingly using of email, text-message and other media to distribute information about major crimes which in the past would have only been detailed in brief on CrimeReports.com or through weekly crime logs distributed online

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Between January and April, the city of Hyattsville sent seven alerts containing the word "police" through the Nixle email and text message system which it primarily replies upon to distribute urgent information. Since June, a period of less than three months now, the city of Hyattsville sent nine Nixle messages with the word "police" in them (10 if you count a revised Nixle alert which was essentially a duplicate)

"We have more people trained to use it," said Abby Sandel, who oversees city communications in her role as Director of the Community Services Department. 

She admitted that the city is still figuring out how to use the service, careful not to overload inboxes with potentially frivolous alerts. 

While Hyattsville residents have read more frequently about robberies in recent months, robberies are down almost 16.7 percent in the city. 

Property crimes are down 9.8 percent, though there has been a 21 percent increase in residential break-ins. Some of that increase in break-ins comes from new areas of activity on the eastern side of the city, according to Holland. 

Assaults are also up slightly over last year at midpoint, with 50 reported compared to 2012's 47. 

There has only been one reported rape in the city between January and June, down from two in 2012. There have been no murders in Hyattsville since 2011.

Simple theft, much of it shoplifting, remains the single biggest source of criminal activity in Hyattsville, but even here police are seeing year-over-year declines in this category continue into 2013. Theft is down more than 10.3 percent over the first six months of 2013. 


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