PG Co. Police Ad (courtesy of Washington Post)
You have probably seen ads like the one on the left in the Metro station and on metro buses. The PG Co. Police (PGCPD) has been recently struggling with budget cuts due to recession and elimination of vacant positions. The department has also been facing a hiring a freeze for a long time.
Washington Post has recently reported this:
About 50 Prince George’s County employees across numerous departments were told Friday that they would be laid off, effective Nov. 1, as part of an effort to close a $22.7 million budget gap left by recent state funding cuts.
PGCPD is one of the major law enforcement divisions we depend on everyday to patrol our streets. We use their service at the expense of our tax dollars, only next to the service we pay ($1 million annually) to hire their contract police. Cuts such as these will definitely worsen our public safety concerns that many of residents currently have – our residents will most likely see slower response from them in case of emergencies.
Please check my earlier blog posts on ideas of improving public safety in our city.