BY HEATHER WRIGHT
Update 7/26/22: Hyattsville Police Chief Jarod Towers informed the Hyattsville Life & Times that as of July 26, 2022 the city’s statistical monthly and quarterly crime summaries had been updated through the end of June, 2022.
The Hyattsville City Police Department (HCPD) has a public online record of each crime reported within city limits, going back to 2016.
HCPD has not updated crime reports on their website since January 2022. As of July 8, the last monthly crime report HCPD posted is dated December 2021, and the last weekly crime report was posted on Jan. 23. HCPD hasn’t posted a quarterly report since 2021, even as the first quarter of 2022 ended in March.
Hyattsville’s Chief of Police Jarod J. Towers joined the Hyattsville force in fall 2021. For the two years prior, he was the chief of the Cheverly Police Department (CPD). CPD posted their most recent annual crime statistics in 2020, and their most recent monthly crime report dates back to June 2021.
In contrast, some other local police departments are more up to date with their crime reports. Although the Mount Rainier Police Department’s most recent annual report dates back to 2020, their weekly reports are far more current, with the most recent being about two months behind, dating to April 23 (as of press time). Also as of press time, Greenbelt Police Department’s monthly reports were two months behind, while their weekly reports were completely up to date, with the most recent report posted on July 4.
In response to an April inquiry from the Hyattsville Life & Times (HL&T), Towers said that staffing issues in the HCPD records section had led to a backlog of statistical reports. To a follow-up HL&T inquiry in mid-June, Towers noted that he was reviewing updated reports and that they would be posted soon.
