The Rockville City Police Department reported a decrease in violent crimes in 2018, in an annual crime report that offers analysis of the year’s crime statistics and details the department’s ongoing community policing mission.
Each year, the department prepares a crime report under the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System.
“All of the department’s accomplishments are a direct result of many people working together to do things right,” Victor V. Brito, who was sworn in as police chief June 18, 2018, wrote in a message introducing the report. “Exceptional personnel and community support are vital to the department’s continued growth and success. A renewed emphasis was placed on community policing and strengthening community relationships by demonstrating accountability and transparency. And the year ended with notable reductions in violent crimes.”
RCPD’s 64 officers responded to 25,714 calls for service in 2018, or 68% of all calls to city or county police or the county sheriff’s office within Rockville’s city limits.
Overall, between 2017 and 2018, Group A offenses – 52 crimes categorized by NIBRS as crimes against persons, crimes against property or crimes against society – decreased by 3.1%, from 2,650 to 2,557.
Crimes against persons, which include homicides, assaults and sex offenses, increased by 5.7%, from 442 offenses in 2017 to 476 offenses in 2018. Notably, aggravated assaults fell by nearly 24%, from 46 to 35.
Crimes against property, including burglaries, robberies, thefts and vandalism, decreased by 7.9% (from 1,750 to 1,611).
Crimes against society, including drug, prostitution and weapons offenses, increased by 6.8%, from 458 to 489, primarily due to an 8.2% increase in drug/narcotic violations.
New this year, the report includes a section on heroin/opioid incidents that city or county police responded to within the city limits. Police made 20 heroin- or opioid-related arrests in 2018 and responded to 13 reports of overdoses. Of those, police administered the rescue drug Narcan in seven cases. Three reported overdoses were fatal. The city launched its Rockville Goes Purple communitywide campaign against the opioid crisis earlier this year.
The report also includes:
- A table showing the number of incidents in which officers were assaulted in the past nine years.
- A section summarizing complaint cases and use-of-force incidents.
- An internal affairs report section summarizing the number of warrants served, guns seized, officers assaulted and other data. Of 821 arrests made in 2018, there were 11 use-of-force incidents, representing 1% of arrests.
- A section on the department’s strategies and initiatives, including its focus on recruitment and retention with an emphasis on diversity in hiring, and increased training opportunities.
To read the full report, which will be included in an annual report published by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments this summer, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/267/Crime-Statistics-Reports.