Investing in Public Safety and Crime Reduction in the FY 2024 Budget
Dear Prince Georgians:
Three weeks ago, the Prince George’s County Council passed the fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget. I am proud of the final budget that we submitted to the County Council, which provides important services to residents, gives our County agencies the resources they need to serve our residents, and upholds the values of our community. In this budget, we continued to make historic investments in public safety and crime reduction, including millions of dollars in programs that support our youth, young adults, and returning citizens.
We know that crime has risen across the nation, and Prince George’s County is no exception. That’s why we made increased investments in our Police Department, allocating $390 million in this year’s budget, a 6% increase over last year’s budget. That funding will support four new recruit classes for a total of 120 new officers, as well as continued recruitment incentives for new officers. In addition, we provided funding for the Police Explorers Program to expose young people to positive interactions with our police officers and potential careers in law enforcement.
We also know that when our residents have a fire or medical emergency, they rely on the swift response of our Fire/EMS Department and right now, there’s a nationwide shortage of firefighters. That’s why we allocated $261 million to our Fire/EMS Department, an increase of more than 8% over last year. That funding will support three new recruit classes for a total of 96 new firefighters. In addition, the department will be able to purchase smoke detectors for County residents that may be unable to obtain them, helping protect them in the event of a fire.
Another critical component of public safety is our Department of Corrections, and we are working hard to increase staffing levels in the Department. We allocated $106.7 million to the Department of Corrections, an increase of 7% over last year’s budget. That funding will support two new recruit classes for a total of 36 new correctional officers. In addition, funding will support continued reentry services and behavioral health services for inmates.
Our criminal justice system also plays an important role in keeping our community safe. When we met with all County agencies as part of the budget process, that included the State’s Attorney’s Office. They asked us for two key areas of new funding to help with the prosecution of cases, and we delivered on both of those areas.
The State’s Attorney’s Office is receiving $25.3 million in funding this year, an increase of nearly 14% over last year’s budget, which is one of the largest percentage increases of any County agency this year. This funding will support the hiring of six new Assistant State’s Attorneys (ASAs) and the retention of current ASAs, as well as the creation of a new unit within the office. We delivered on this important funding for the State’s Attorney’s Office to ensure they have the resources they need to hold people accountable who commit acts of violence against our community.
We understand that reducing crime does not just involve our public safety agencies, and we must continue to provide opportunities for our youth, young adults, and returning citizens. Throughout my Administration, we have taken a whole of government approach to combatting crime, and even during this year’s tight budget, we spared no expense to provide these critical opportunities.
Education is one of the most sacred obligations of government, and we invested an historic amount of funding in our school system. This year’s budget included $2.8 billion in funding for Prince George’s County Public Schools, an increase of 6.5% over last year. In fact, 62% of our total budget for the General Fund is going to the school system, representing the largest investment in our budget.
Our award-winning Summer Youth Enrichment Program (SYEP), as well as our Alsobrooks Summer Passport Experience, will continue this summer due to our $2.5 million investment. SYEP provides career readiness training and summer job opportunities for County youth ages 14-22, while Summer Passport provides entrepreneurial and educational opportunities to County youth ages 12-15. Over the past four years, we have hired over 17,000 youth in SYEP, and over the past two years, we have provided opportunities to 1,600 youth through Summer Passport.
We are also continuing our Hope in Action Anti-Violence Initiative, led by Reverend Tony Lee in partnership with our Office of Community Relations. We invested an additional $1 million into this violence prevention program this year, which includes continued funding for violence interrupters. Over 29,000 residents have been served with wraparound services such as afterschool programming, mental health services, workforce development, and housing support through Hope in Action so far, with a particular focus on youth and young adults.
Preventing recidivism is a key component of public safety, which is why we are making continued investments to support our returning citizens. Last year, we launched our Returning Citizens Affairs Division (RCAD) within my office to better serve our returning citizens. Since then, our RCAD team has worked to expand the ecosystem of support for returning citizens. They also partnered on a series of events throughout National Second Chance Month in April, which culminated in the first annual Returning Citizens Summit in Prince George’s County. We are making sure they have the resources they need to continue this great work.
In addition, our Health Department is receiving $87.9 million in total funding, which includes funding for the Bridge Center at Adam’s House. The Bridge Center is the County’s one-stop center to support those reentering the community, including returning citizens, veterans, and young adults ages 18-24. I’m proud that through their efforts, we supported 3,700 returning citizens from 2019-2022, providing resources such as employment assistance, housing assistance, social services, behavioral health services, food assistance, and more.
Employ Prince George’s, our County’s workforce development agency, has a total budget of $16.4 million this year, which includes a $2.9 million County grant. In partnership with our Office of Human Resources Management, they have launched the Pathways to Government program, which helps provide career opportunities within County Government to returning citizens, veterans, and other vulnerable groups. We are proud that we have already made the first several hires this year through Pathways to Government.
In addition, we want to thank our State Delegation for their tremendous work during the 2023 Maryland General Assembly Session to advance legislation to support returning citizens. Through our collective efforts, we were able to secure $500,000 from the State so Employ Prince George’s can launch a new Re-entry Employment Incentive Program. This new program will build on the impressive work Employ Prince George’s is already doing to serve returning citizens.
When I released my proposed budget on March 15, I discussed how this budget was tight due to a number of challenges we had to navigate, forcing us to make difficult decisions. We encountered even more challenges with declining income tax revenue projections in May. Despite these challenges, I’m proud of the historic and people-centered investments we made to keep residents safe and provide more opportunities for youth, young adults, and returning citizens, without resorting to raising taxes on residents.
Recently, you may have heard claims that I do not support public safety, crime reduction, or creating opportunities for young people and returning citizens who need our support. Nothing could be further from the truth. This was a difficult budget year for Prince George’s County, the State of Maryland, and jurisdictions across the country. As you can see, despite the challenges we faced, we spared no expense investing in critical programs to support the needs of our community.
I want to again thank Prince Georgians for their support throughout this budget process. I’m proud of the many people-centered investments we made that will help keep our residents safe.
Yours in service,
Angela Alsobrooks
Prince George’s County Executive
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