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Montgomery County committee reviews 2024 police statistical data report, flags survey limits and staffing trends
Summary
Council staff and MCPD presented the 2024 police statistical data report, noting a pilot post-911 text survey, declines in patrol staffing and a sharp rise in overtime and internal affairs investigations; committee members pressed for clearer data, better outreach and consideration of the Feb. 1 reporting deadline.
The Montgomery County public safety work session on July 21 reviewed the county'024 police statistical data report and discussed how the department plans to fill data gaps and improve community outreach. Council staff described a November 2024 Microsoft-Forms community survey and a new pilot that will send text surveys after selected 911 calls.
Council staff member Ms. Farag said the department'019s November survey captured 84 responses, 81 from county residents, and showed 82% of respondents "highly trust or mostly trust MCPD" while 79% felt "very safe or mostly safe" in their neighborhoods. She cautioned the survey skewed older and white because it was distributed on MCPD social media, creating self-selection bias.
Assistant Chief Nicholas Oggstein described a planned pilot that will send a short, multilingual text message survey to people who called 911 or the nonemergency line and for calls that generate an incident number. Lieutenant Cody Fields, reading the proposed questions, said the roughly 15-question survey asks who the respondent interacted with, whether dispatch handled the call in a reasonable timeframe and whether the respondent "did you receive the help available or the help that you needed?"
Committee members pressed staff on representativeness, noting feelings of fear about immigration enforcement could make some residents less likely to call police or respond to outreach. A member asked whether the county could run a separate countywide survey or canvass to reach underrepresented groups; police said the pilot is targeted to people with direct police contact and that other outreach could be pursued separately.
Staff also highlighted staffing and fiscal trends embedded in the report: the authorized sworn complement changed little from 1,281 in 2021 to 1,276 in 2024, but filled positions fell by a net 128 officers over recent years, and patrol assignments dropped from 732 officers in 2021 to 554 in 2024. Ms. Farag said district-level overtime increased by 117% overall and more than doubled in three districts, noting the FY25 overtime appropriation was $13.5 million while actual overtime was projected closer to $25 million.
The committee asked whether the Feb. 1 statutory deadline for the police statistical data report could be shifted; staff noted the department produces 11 annual reports and changing deadlines or reducing duplication would require legislative action. Members also requested clearer reconciliation where different departmental reports list different counts (for example, injury totals) and asked staff to provide municipal overtime numbers where municipalities assist county districts.
The committee did not take formal action on the report but asked staff and the department to return with clarifications, cost estimates for broader surveys or canvassing, and the results of the August ecember pilot.
