Killings in Maryland’s second-most populous county won’t reach triple digits for the first time since 2020, in line with a national trend of declining homicides.
Police in Prince George’s County have investigated 64 homicides this year — including those in its cities and towns — as of Dec. 24, according to county police data. Police ended 2024 with 114 homicide investigations, marking the fourth straight year in which the number of killings surpassed 100.
In neighboring D.C., homicides are also down by about 30 percent. Cities across the country grappled with an uptick in violent crime during the covid pandemic, as many police departments struggled to fill vacancies.
In Prince George’s, both problems are showing signs of a turnaround. While homicides have tailed off, recruitment numbers boomed, with the department welcoming its largest class in a decade, Prince George’s County Police Chief George Nader said at a December news conference.
With the influx of officers, Nader said, the department will test out a “co-responder” program next year, pairing a police officer with a mental health clinician to respond to mental health crises, and form more specialty units, such as a retail theft task force.
He cited partnerships with county government, regional law enforcement and community members, enhanced domestic violence prevention partnerships, and advanced analytics through a real-time crime center as among the steps that made a difference in reducing crime. Overall crime has declined about 16 percent compared with last year. That’s nearly 5,000 fewer crime victims this year, Nader said.
“We recognize that every, even one crime is too many, especially violent crime,” Nader said. “Our thoughts are always with the families and the victims.”
Nader, who was tapped to lead the department in June by new county executive Aisha Braveboy, grew up in Prince George’s County and served in its police department for 20 years before leading the Metro Transit Police department as assistant chief.
Upon his appointment, Nader said the department would have a “community-first mentality” and review its recruitment practices.
He launched an initiative called Blue Lights Nights, bringing neighboring law enforcement agencies together for evenings spent outside with community members. On a recent Tuesday morning, Nader greeted children as they arrived at the annual Shop-with-A-Cop Christmas event at a Walmart.
Beginning with former police chief Malik Aziz in 2021, and now under Nader, the department has emphasized a community-building approach, which has led to results, said Tamara McKinney, a Prince George’s resident and co-founder of Concerned Citizens for Bail Reform.
McKinney said officers have gone into jails to meet with incarcerated youths and worked on projects to build bridges with people returning home from incarceration. That creates a “ripple effect,” helping people view officers in a different light. Still, with the department’s recruiting up, McKinney said officers should reflect the county they represent.
“I’m grateful that young folks are changing their mind about law enforcement,” McKinney said. “But I hope their recruitment is from people of our community that understand our community.”
Nader said at the December news conference that the department recruited more officers “from within our community.”
Homicide cases are also being solved, with the closure rate at 80 percent this year, Nader said.
Last year, 6-year-old Ahsan Payton was fatally shot in the crossfire at a Fourth of July neighborhood celebration. State’s Attorney Tara Jackson announced this month that Rakeem Gilgeours was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his involvement in the shooting.
The number of juvenile homicide victims has dropped by more than half, six this year compared with 11 last year, according to county police data.
Some municipalities within the county, like Greenbelt, investigate their own homicides. It recorded three homicides there this year, according to a police spokesperson.
Crime ebbs and flows. While the year in Prince George’s has trended downward, December has been particularly violent. Police reported five homicides this month as of Dec. 24, including that of 45-year-old Adia Lipscomb Mingo, who was allegedly shot by her son.
Domestic violence incidents are down 2 percent from last year, Nader said, in a county that has long struggled with the issue. Over the past decade, state and local officials have signed legislation, adopted policies and expanded services to protect survivors of domestic abuse, including a 2020 bill that made strangulation a felony in hopes of preventing escalating violence and homicides.
Braveboy said her administration, upon taking office, saw “some concerning trends” regarding domestic violence but worked to restore an agreement that allows the sheriff’s office to respond to calls for domestic violence in some police districts where call volumes are high.
The county has steadily averaged 2,000 peace and protective orders a month, but that number dropped to 1,422 in November, Sheriff John D.B. Carr said.
Prince George’s County police investigated at least 15 domestic-related homicides this year, including the killing of 29-year-old Sharita Cristwell. The makeup artist was found shot dead July 5, 11 days after a judge released Harry Dominique Lindsey, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her two daughters, on house arrest for first- and second-degree assault charges he incurred after being accused of strangling her. Lindsey has been charged with first-degree murder in Cristwell’s death.
Lindsey denies the relationship had ended as well as the abuse allegations against him. But he acknowledged killing Cristwell in an interview with The Post, saying he acted in self-defense.
The night of the alleged assault, a domestic violence lethality assessment showed that Cristwell was at an increased risk of domestic homicide, according to court documents.
“They knew that she was at high risk. They knew what she was going through … and they did nothing,” said Theresia Brown, Cristwell’s adopted sister. “How many times did you fail her? It wasn’t once. It wasn’t twice. It wasn’t three times. It was multiple.”
Cristwell’s daughters are now left without a mother and caught in the middle of a custody dispute among their grandmothers. On a recent Sunday, Sharita Cristwell’s adopted mother, Joyce Cristwell, was able to hug her two granddaughters for the first time since their mother’s funeral in July, during a birthday celebration at a skating rink. They turned 9 and 10, without their parents, only a day a part.
Sharita Cristwell shared with her mother dreams of owning a larger home, Joyce Cristwell recalled, with enough space for Joyce Cristwell, herself and her daughters to each have a room to themselves. Though Sharita Cristwell was unable to see that dream come true, Joyce Cristwell recently secured a four-bedroom home she hopes to share with her grandkids if she’s able to win at least partial custody.
After telling the landlord her mother’s story, Brown said, she recalled him saying, “The house is yours. She suffered enough.”
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