CRIME IN MARYLAND

[Pages:198]CRIME IN MARYLAND

2015 UNIFORM CRIME REPORT

GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN LT. GOVERNOR BOYD K. RUTHERFORD

COLONEL WILLIAM M. PALLOZZI MARYLAND STATE POLICE

CENTRAL RECORDS DIVISION

IDA J. WILLIAMS, DIVISION DIRECTOR

UNIFORM CRIME

REPORTING PROGRAM

Executive Summary

An annual release since 1975, Crime in Maryland reports crime statistics provided by Maryland Law Enforcement agencies to the State's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program under the Department of Maryland State Police. Crime in Maryland details crime incidents, clearance rates, arrests, law enforcement officers killed or assaulted, and law enforcement employee data. The statewide UCR Program was developed to report crime in Maryland to the National UCR Program administered by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Maryland program has evolved to collect data on domestic violence, hate bias, and carjacking incidents and arrests. Reports and statistics pertaining to hate bias and their associated arrests are released in a separate State Police publication.

The Uniform Crime Reporting Program collects information on crimes that have been selected as an index to represent crime in the United States. These index crimes are murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, breaking or entering, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft. Although not an index crime, data pertaining to the crime of arson is also included.

There were 172,182 total crime incidents reported in 2015 compared to 176,912 in 2014. The crime index total decreased three percent in 2015 when compared to 2014. Violent crime increased seven percent. The violent crime group consists of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crime decreased four percent. The composition of the property crime group is breaking or entering, larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft. The summary for the 2015 index crimes is as follows:

Murder Rape Robbery Aggravated Assault

+ 52.3% + 53.6% + 5.2% + 4.2%

Breaking or Entering Larceny-Theft Motor Vehicle Theft Arson

- 5.1% - 5.2% + 3.2% + 8.7%

There were 212,623 arrests reported in 2015 compared to 237,835 in 2014. Arrests in Maryland decreased 11 percent in 2015, when compared to 2014. Of the total arrests, 189,918 were adults and 22,705 were juvenile. When compared to adult and juvenile arrests in 2014 this is a decrease of 11 percent and eight percent respectively. Arrests for drug offenses totaled 32,251 in 2015. This is a 26 percent decrease when compared to drug offense arrests reported in 2014. In 2015, 20,457 persons were arrested for driving under the influence. This is a decrease of one percent when compared to driving under the influence arrests reported in 2014.

Three Maryland law enforcement officers died in the line of duty during 2015. There were 2,858 Maryland law enforcement officers assaulted in 2015. This represents a decrease of four percent over similar assaults reported in 2014 and equates to 18 percent of full time law enforcement officers employed in Maryland.

In 2015, there was a one percent decrease in the number of full-time law enforcement officers in Maryland. There were 15,720 full-time law enforcement officers in 2015 compared to 15,893 in 2014. In 2015, this equated to 2.6 full-time law enforcement officers per 1,000 of population, compared to 2.7 in 2014.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction......................................................................................................................1 Crime Factors..................................................................................................................7 Crime Index Offenses......................................................................................................9

Murder.................................................................................................................13 Rape....................................................................................................................21 Robbery...............................................................................................................25 Aggravated Assault.............................................................................................29 Breaking or Entering...........................................................................................33 Larceny-Theft......................................................................................................37 Motor Vehicle Theft.............................................................................................41 Arson...................................................................................................................45 Domestic Violence..............................................................................................49 Carjacking...........................................................................................................63 Index Offense Data........................................................................................................71 Maryland UCR Crime Index Report by Region, County & Agency................................73 Municipality Crime Rate.................................................................................................97 Maryland Arrest Data...................................................................................................107 Drug Arrest County Chart..................................................................................111 Arrests - Sex & Race.........................................................................................117 Arrests - Age.....................................................................................................118 Maryland Arrest Report by Region, County & Agency.................................................120 Law Enforcement Officers Killed & Assaulted..............................................................169 Law Enforcement Officers Assaulted................................................................171 Law Enforcement Officers Assaulted by Region,

County & Agency........................................................................................173 Law Enforcement Employee Data................................................................................183

Law Enforcement Employee Rates...................................................................185 Law Enforcement Employee Data by Region, County & Agency..................186 Ten Year Crime Index Chart........................................................................................193

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

The Maryland Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is one component of the State's Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS). It establishes a method to collect, evaluate and process uniform statistical data on statewide crime. The Maryland UCR Program provides a means to consolidate the relevant data into a statewide report that can be provided to state, local and federal government agencies.

NATIONAL UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM

The counterpart of the Maryland UCR Program is the National UCR Program which is under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The National Program resulted from a need for a uniform compilation of crime statistics nationwide. Uniform Crime Reports were first collected in 1930 after being developed by a committee of the International Association of Chiefs' of Police (IACP). The IACP continues to serve in an advisory capacity to the FBI in the current operation of the program. Crime statistics voluntarily submitted by individual law enforcement agencies from all 50 states are presented annually in the FBI's publication entitled Crime in the United States.

MARYLAND UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM

The FBI has actively assisted individual states in the development of State UCR Programs compatible with the National Program. Maryland took advantage of this assistance in 1972 and was able to develop its own program by 1975. The Maryland Uniform Crime Reporting Program became operational January 1, 1975. This program consists of the uniform classification, review, compilation and analysis of crime statistics reported by all law enforcement agencies of the State pursuant to the guidelines and regulations prescribed by law. The responsibility and authority for the collection and dissemination of UCR data is assigned to the Department of State Police in accordance with Public Safety Article, Section 2, Subsection 307 and 308, of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

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PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

In keeping with the recommendation of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, the Maryland UCR Program was planned for eventual growth into a complete and integrated offender based Criminal Justice Information System. Under this program, each offender arrested in Maryland is tracked through the entire criminal justice system from time of arrest, through the courts, to the correctional system where their exit (parole, expiration of sentence, etc.) is recorded. In this manner, a complete "criminal history" on individual offenders is available for use by the police, courts and correctional agencies in Maryland. In addition, statistical data derived from the CJIS Program provides assistance in determining the overall efficiency of the Criminal Justice System in Maryland and will make effective management studies possible.

The fundamental objectives of the Maryland UCR Program are:

1. Inform the Governor, legislature, other governmental officials and the public the nature, magnitude and trends of crime in Maryland.

2. Provide law enforcement administrators with crime based statistics for administrative and operational use.

3. Determine who commits crimes by age, sex, race and other attributes in order to find the proper focus for crime prevention and enforcement.

4. Provide base data and statistics to measure the workload and effectiveness of Maryland's Criminal Justice System.

5. Provide base data and statistics to measure the effects of prevention and deterrence programs.

6. Provide base data and statistics for research to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and performance of criminal justice agencies.

7. Provide base data to assist in the assessment of social and other causes of crime for the development of theories of criminal behavior.

8. Provide the FBI with complete UCR data to be included in the national crime reports.

REPORTING PROCEDURES

Under the Maryland UCR Program, law enforcement agencies submit specified Uniform Crime Reports. The necessary information for each of the required reports is gathered from each agency's record of complaints, investigations and arrests.

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Crime data and information is submitted to the Maryland UCR Program monthly by state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies on the number of offenses known to them in the following crime categories:

(1) Criminal Homicide (2) Forcible Rape (3) Robbery (4) Assault (5) Breaking or Entering (6) Larceny-Theft (7) Motor Vehicle Theft (8) Arson*

The count of offenses is taken from the record of complaints received by law enforcement agencies. This information comes from victims, witnesses, and other sources which are discovered by law enforcement during their own operations. Complaints determined by subsequent investigation to be unfounded are eliminated from the count. The resulting number of "actual offenses known to law enforcement agencies" in these crime categories are reported without regard for whether anyone is arrested, stolen property is recovered, local prosecution policies or any other consideration.

Reported offenses are recorded by the municipality and county in which they occur. Municipal law enforcement agencies report those crimes which occur within their municipalities. County agencies report those crimes which occur in the counties outside the cities.

A supplemental report is also submitted each month showing the value of stolen and recovered property, the type of property and the type of offense within a crime category in which it was taken. This report also shows the number of stolen vehicles recovered locally and by other jurisdictions. In addition, each agency reports the number of persons arrested by them or other agencies for crimes which have occurred within their jurisdiction. The arrest report also shows the age, sex and race of those arrested and the disposition of juveniles by the arresting agency. Additional information is submitted on homicides, domestically related crimes, officer assaults, and "carjackings" regarding the victim and offender information, weapons used, circumstances, etc. In addition, police employee data is collected on an annual basis.

Crime coding changes that occur after an incident is initially reported may not be reflected in this report.

*Monthly arson reports are submitted for law enforcement agencies by the State Fire Marshal's Office and designated county agencies to the Maryland UCR Program.

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