With Annapolis bill's failure, city left to pick up the pieces in addressing safety

Plans to beef up College Park's public safety budget with state funds have stumbled in the wake of a lagging economy and Annapolis politics.

The College Park City Council announced last week that it will raise local taxes to hire more police officers to patrol the city as hope fades in Annapolis for a bill that would have provided the money.

That means the city will only be able to afford the minimum number of new officers it was looking to hire. And new taxes could be passed along to students eventually in higher rents.

"I think everyone understands there's a serious crime problem," said Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George's), who represents College Park. "But the question was, why should the state provide extra money for only College Park?"

State lawmakers allowed the bill, which would have granted the city about $500,000 for improving police coverage, to die in the House Appropriations Committee in March, citing the deteriorating economic outlook and the unfairness of aiding this university but not others, Rosapepe said.

Still, District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said the tax hike will be substantial enough to make significant safety improvements. The council proposed raising taxes by almost 8 percent to come up with the needed half-million dollars, a sum that will allow the city to hire four new county officers to patrol College Park full time with some funds left over for technology improvements.

The city was told it might get about half the money it requested from the state, Catlin said, which it would have combined with a tax increase to pay for six new officers.

Catlin conceded residents won't be happy about the increased taxes, but he said the strides that the city's contract officers have made in improving College Park security have proven that more officers will have an impact.

The city already contracts with about 20 Prince George's County police officers, who patrol the city a total of about 200 hours a week - the equivalent of four full-time officers, Catlin said. Those officers are only in College Park part-time, though.

The new officers, while technically county police, will only be responsible for patrolling in the city. That's a distinction Maj. Kevin Davis, District 1 commander for the Prince George's County Police Department, says will make all the difference.

"It's not necessarily a matter of throwing more police officers at the City of College Park and hoping the crime will go away," Davis said. "I think the most important thing about this plan, as it stands now, is that these full-time contractual officers would be dedicated to patrolling College Park."

Davis said officers who are only responsible for working in College Park have more of a connection with the city and concern for the well-being of its residents.

Full-time officers will also be better positioned to dig into some of College Park's problems and properly investigate them, Davis said.

"It's not just a matter of crime fighting," Davis said, "it's addressing quality-of-life issues."

Despite technological advances, he said, "a DNA database and cameras can't solve crimes."

With that in mind, Davis said money from the planned tax hike will be enough to have a real impact on security. The full-time status of the new officers will matter more than the number the city can afford, he said.

Hopes for more police in the city haven't died just yet, but will have to wait for a better budget environment at the state level.

Del. Ben Barnes (D-Anne Arundel and Prince George's), who lives in College Park and sponsored the state bill, said he plans to introduce legislation again next year.

"I think there's a state role to make sure there's police protection where we need it," Barnes said.

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