Prince George's law-enforcement leaders outline enforcement priorities, youth outreach and new prosecution data

Police and public-safety leaders on the Prince George's County House delegation's Feb. 13 meeting painted a picture of coordinated enforcement work and asked legislators to consider legal changes to address recurring problems.

Chief George Nader said the county is seeing an increase in large, often out-of-county "car meetup" events involving 50 to 100 vehicles that can generate reckless driving, noise and disorder. "Thereare not really a lot of powerful legislative tools to stop it," Nader said, and he urged the delegation to consider whether statutes could be strengthened to help police respond.

Nader described existing operational responses and regional coordination: the department participates in a car-rally task force with Maryland State Police and municipal partners and increases targeted patrols on school routes when robberies spike. He also announced two operational initiatives: an organized retail-theft unit that began work last week and already produced two major arrests tied to about $30,000 in thefts, and a Citizens Police Academy (a 10-week public program starting in late March or early April) to improve community understanding of policing.

Deputy Chief George Nichols, who recently attended a major-chiefs conference, said some promising ideas from other cities may require legislative changes to implement locally and invited delegates to consult police leadership as bills are drafted.

Interim State's Attorney Tara Jackson told the delegation the prosecutor's office has launched a public data dashboard to increase transparency. "We put up our data dashboard, 1st ever, I think, data dashboard, coming out of the state's attorney's office," Jackson said, noting the dashboard focuses on juvenile crime, homicides, abuse-of-minor cases and motor-vehicle manslaughter. Jackson said overall crime numbers were down in 2025 and added a local detail: "Of the 12 murders that occurred already this year, 10 have been closed." She encouraged delegates to use the dashboard for oversight and public information.

Jackson also described a pending legislative fix to close a prosecution loophole that currently prevents some out-of-state (including District of Columbia) prior gun offenses from being used to seek enhanced penalties in Maryland; she said the bill has been filed as House Bill 1061 with a Senate cross-file (Senate Bill 620) and that the House hearing was scheduled for Feb. 25 at 1 p.m.

Sheriff John Carr said domestic violence filings are increasing toward pre-pandemic levels and described steps to make courthouse services more proactive, including a Family Justice Center suite at the courthouse. Carr also raised concerns about real-property fraud tied to sheriff sales and squatters, saying the office is reviewing roughly 20 suspicious purchases and has requested budget authority for a professional auctioneer and additional legal review to improve the sheriff-sales process. He noted circuit court is exploring expanded mental-health-court capacity to divert appropriate cases from criminal prosecution.

Delegates asked questions about constitutional or practical barriers to the proposed bills, data sharing across jurisdictions (Maryland and D.C.), school-route safety and whether federal agencies were leasing space locally (a Hyattsville lease was discussed; leaders said they were still gathering details and expected a county-executive office statement). Leaders offered to share invitations and materials with delegation offices and provide more information about new programs and dashboards.

Next steps: Jackson said the gun-prosecution bill has a Feb. 25 hearing; Nader and other law-enforcement leaders offered to provide technical assistance to bill sponsors and to brief members on operational impacts as proposals move forward.