NEWS RELEASE
City of Takoma Park Police Department
• 7500 Maple Avenue • Takoma Park, Md 20912
For more information contact:
Public Information Officer (PIO)
Catherine Plevy, 301/891.7142 or 240/338.2901
May 7, 2009 (4:15 p.m.)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chief Ronald A. Ricucci of the City of Takoma Park Police Department announced today that Part 1 crime has declined 17.9% for the first quarter of the year (January 1 – April 30, 2009) – this coming on top of the 11% drop last year is a 28.9% drop in serious crime for the last 16 months. Declines in Burglary (51.1%), Motor Vehicle Thefts (48.7%) and Robbery (20.0%) played a major part in the significant drop.
Chief Ricucci attributes these positive numbers to a fully staffed department, a more experienced undercover Tactical Enforcement Unit (TEU) on the street, more closures and arrests by the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and our working relationships with all surrounding jurisdictions. There have been at least three weekends of vandalism to vehicles which has disturbed the community. We made an arrest in one case, but two others remain open. Despite these cases, vandalisms are still down from last year.
Our community has responded well to our requests to be our eyes of what is occurring in their neighborhoods. Community involvement, cooperation and support is a fundamental reason why we are being successful at this time.
Chief Ricucci praises the efforts of the men and women of the department, sworn and non-sworn, whose hard work and effort produced these results. The department-community partnership continues to grow and improve.
Posted by Plevy at May 7, 2009 04:10 PM