Demolishing Homes and Crime

More houses being demolished in Prince George’s County and Councilwoman Andrea Harrison has a special one in mind, and Organized Burglary Group that robbed 54 homes in Prince George’s County is taken down by a concerned citizen

From WAMU, “In Maryland, demolition crews in Prince George’s County have razed 46 abandoned homes this year, more than nine times the number torn down all of last year. Despite some upcoming bureaucratic changes, that pace won’t be slowing anytime soon.  The latest property to come down was a two-story aqua blue home along Hawthorne Street in Landover. Floreen Campbell lives next to what is now a pile of rubble, but for the prior five years that home was vacant—except for the occasional vagrant and a host of animals that did damage to her property.

photo courtesy WAMU

Later this year, the responsibility for razing abandoned properties will shift from the county’s department of environmental resources to the department of permitting, inspections, and enforcement. With that change comes new code enforcement policies that will make events like yesterday’s easier to achieve, a move that can’t come soon enough for a home in Columbia Park that Prince George’s County council chair Andrea Harrison says has been abandoned for more than 20 years.  “But I guarantee you if I have to steal one of these things right here and drive it myself and get to Columbia Park I’m going to knock that home down for you. I’m going to go to jail if I have to but it’s coming down,” she says.  Close to 40 other abandoned property razings are scheduled in the county this year.

The Prince George’s County Police Department arrested three suspects for a string of more than 50 burglaries in the county since December 2012. The suspects took weapons, computers, jewelry, televisions and other personal belongings.  In one case, the suspects stole a safe with valuables worth nearly $70,000. Captain Charles Hamby, Commander RID, Southern Division said that one of the victim’s homes had a security camera which enabled them to get a lead, but it was a concerned citizen who broke the case when he told the police about a suspicious vehicle he observed selling televisions out of the trunk of a silver Toyota SJ Cruiser; the concerned citizen also gave police the tag number.  YAAAY CONCERNED CITIZEN!!!

They went into neighborhoods off the main roads, knocked on doors under the guise of looking for someone and burglarized homes where no one answered the door.  The suspects were targeting homes in Oxon Hill and Fort Washington; they have been linked to 54 home burglaries in Prince George’s County’s southern district.  They stole everything from safes and jewelry to cash and televisions.  Detective Dave Gross noted that the criminals all are addicted to narcotics and had inside tracks to other criminals to aid in disposing of the goods for cash and drugs.

From left to right: Anthony Nyrekie Edwards, David Benjamin Neal, and Jamal Cooke, all of Oxon Hill, MD.