DO NOT Dispute a Phony Transaction in the 'Resolutin Center'!

Be on the lookout for phony email designed to get you to click on a link that can have very bad results. Mis-spellings are a clue this is fake.
Mark this as Junk or Phishing so your email service can filter this out.
Do NOT click on any links!

Updated: MD 210 Improvements (MD 228 to Kerby Hill/Livingston) Ranked 18th Project in State

(Click on the image for the Draft CTP. Rankings are on page APP‐A‐1. MD 210 related projects are on pages SHA-PG-7 and SHA-PG-16)

• The Prince George’s County Council will welcome Maryland Department of Transportation representatives to the County on Friday, November 1, 2019, for the annual statewide Consolidated Transportation Program (CTP) Tour. The public meeting is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in the County Administration Building, Council Committee Room 2027, 14741 Gov. Oden Bowie Drive, in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
• Council Member Todd M. Turner (D) – District 4, encourages Prince Georgians to attend Friday’s public meeting with officials, residents and stakeholders, for updates on state highway, transportation and transit issues impacting Prince George’s County, “The Consolidated Transportation Program Tour offers a wonderful opportunity to hear directly from state officials concerning highway and transportation projects impacting Prince George’s County residents and provide feedback on the County’s transportation priorities. We look forward to an insightful meeting and dialogue.”
• Video of the public meeting is here.
• Each year, MDOT representatives visit with Prince George’s County, as part of its tour of all 23 Maryland counties and Baltimore City, to meet and share the Draft Consolidated Transportation Program, the state’s six-year capital budget for transportation projects.
• The current Prince George's County transportation priority projects list is here.

PGPD Seeks Community’s Assistance in Identifying Package Thieves Linked to 15 Cases

(Click on the image for the PGPD Blog post)

• "Our Regional Investigation Division is actively working to identify and arrest the two suspects who are now linked to 15 package thefts in our county. The suspects are primarily targeting neighborhoods in Upper Marlboro. These thefts took place between October 18th and the 22nd and several were recorded on home surveillance systems."
• "The suspects are committing the thefts during the day when many victims are away from their homes. They are driving a dark gray Infiniti QX 60 SUV with Maryland tags 3CX3353."
• A similar incident has been reported in Tantallon.

Police recommend:

• If possible, pick up the ordered item at the store
• Ship the item to your workplace
• Have a neighbor keep an eye out for the item if you know you won’t be home during the delivery window
• Have the item sent to a friend or family member who is home during normal delivery hours
• If possible, ship the item to an Amazon Locker, UPS Office, FedEx Office or Post Office
• Require a signature at the time of delivery

Please report all crime to the police so they can prevent future incidents. They can't help us if they don't know what we are experiencing.

Where Pedestrians Are Dying in Prince George’s County

(Click on the image for George Kevin Jordan's report in Greater Greater Washington)

The number of pedestrian fatalities in Prince George’s County has ticked up from 20 in 2015 to 27 by 2018, according to data from the Maryland Highway Safety Office and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. From 2011 through 2015, pedestrian-involved crashes in Maryland have increased by 21%, with nearly 3,000 pedestrian-involved crashes occurring on Maryland roads each year, according to the 2018 Maryland Highway Safety Plan.

Nearly 80 Speed Violators Are Caught per Day on Md 210

Statistics cover Jan 1 - Oct 20, 2019. Stats are from Major Mitchell, Commander, District VII, and Captain Hendershot, Commander, Automated Enforcement Division

• Officer Issued Citations:                       19,507

• Speed Camera Violations *

  3,822

• Total

  23,329

• * Includes 264 violations from the original camera near Giant
• 67 DUI arrests were made during this period.
• Nearly 6% of speed camera violations had more than one violation during 2 months of operation.
• One vehicle had 5 violations during the 2 months.

Recent Prince George's County Pedestrian Fatalities May Reflect a National Trend

Recent pedestrian fatalities:

• On September 2nd, at approximately 8:50 pm, patrol officers were called to the 5500 block of St. Barnabas Road for a collision involving a pedestrian. Responding officers found the victim suffering from critical injuries. He was taken to a hospital where he died a short time later.
• On September 7th, at approximately 11:40 pm, patrol officers were called to the 5900 block of Silver Hill Road for a collision involving a pedestrian. They located the pedestrian suffering from critical injuries. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
• On September 19th, at approximately 11:40 pm, patrol officers were called to the 1200 block of Marblewood Avenue for a welfare check. The responding officers discovered Williams unresponsive in the roadway with injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle. He was pronounced dead on the scene. 
• On September 21st, at approximately 8:30 am, patrol officers responded to the southbound ramp of I-295 and southbound Indian Head Highway for a vehicle collision involving two pedestrians. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered Miguel and another man suffering from critical injuries after being hit by a car.
• On October 14th, at approximately 11:35 pm, patrol officers were called to St. Barnabas Road at Raleigh Road for a report of a pedestrian collision.The preliminary investigation revealed the pedestrians were attempting to cross St. Barnabas Road mid-block when they were struck by the SUV. Grier suffered critical injuries and was rushed to a hospital. She died a short time later. The second victim, an adult male, suffered what appears to be non-life-threatening injuries. The victims were not in a crosswalk at the time of the collision.

District VII Police Ask for Our Input So They Can Help Families in Need

(Click for a clearer copy)

Stay Alert for Deer!

(Click on the image for more information)

• Deer greatly increase their movements during the breeding season from mid-October through November as they search for mates
• Motorists should be especially cautious from dusk to dawn when deer are most active and likely to be encountered on the road
• Be particularly attentive in the early morning and evening periods.
• Gradually brake to avoid hitting a deer; do not swerve as this may cause you to lose control of a vehicle.
• Slow down if a deer crosses the road ahead. Deer often travel in groups and others may be nearby.
• Stay alert and slow down in areas where deer crossing signs are posted. These indicate locations of frequent deer activity.
• Watch the shoulder. Be alert for deer standing along the shoulder as they may suddenly move into the roadway. Slow down and sound your horn to scare them away.

The Foundation of Modern Policing is 190 Years Old

(Click on this sketch of Sir Robert Peel for more information)

In 1829, Sir Robert Peel established the London Metropolitan Police Force. He became known as the “Father of Modern Policing,” and his commissioners established a list of policing principles that remain as crucial and urgent today as they were two centuries ago. They contain three core ideas and nine principles.

3 Core Ideas:

1. The goal is preventing crime, not catching criminals. If the police stop crime before it happens, we don’t have to punish citizens or suppress their rights. An effective police department doesn’t have high arrest stats; its community has low crime rates.
2. The key to preventing crime is earning public support. Every community member must share the responsibility of preventing crime, as if they were all volunteer members of the force. They will only accept this responsibility if the community supports and trusts the police.
3. The police earn public support by respecting community principles. Winning public approval requires hard work to build reputation: enforcing the laws impartially, hiring officers who represent and understand the community, and using force only as a last resort.

9 Policing Principles:

1. To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment.
2. To recognize always that the power of the police to fulfill their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behavior, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.
3. To recognize always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing cooperation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws.
4. To recognize always that the extent to which the cooperation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives.
5. To seek and preserve public favor, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humor, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.
6. To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public cooperation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order, and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.
7. To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
8. To recognize always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary of avenging individuals or the State, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty.
9. To recognize always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.

Columbus Day Weekend, Yes, Columbus Day, Is One Of the Most Dangerous Periods On Roadways Across the Region

From John Townsend, AAA:

• October is not only one of the deadliest months of the year on roadways across the region and the nation. The long October weekend leading up to the Columbus Day holiday is also one of the deadliest periods of the year for drivers in Virginia, Maryland and in the nation’s capital, area law enforcement officials and traffic safety advocates are warning. In fact, the Columbus Day weekend has the “second-highest total number of fatal crashes among all holidays.” That is according to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Its deadliness is only exceeded by the Fourth of July, in terms of the overall number of fatal crashes. That might surprise motorists.
• [Saturday], the Maryland State Police, in tandem with the Prince George’s County Police Department, will be “conducting a speeding and aggressive driving enforcement initiative” on the Inner Loop and Outer Loop of the  Capital Beltway (I-495/I-95). The speeding enforcement initiative on I-495 is slated to take place from “10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, October 12.” This weekend’s high-visibility speed enforcement campaign along heavily traveled segments of the Capital Beltway inside Maryland will include Maryland State Troopers from the College Park Barracks and the Forestville Barracks, as well as patrol officers with the Prince George’s County Police Department. “The initiative comes as a three-year crash analysis study determined that the Columbus Day weekend has a high propensity for speed-related collisions,” explains the Department of Maryland State Police (DMSP).

MD 210 Kerby/Livingston Cross Traffic Shutdown Starts Tuesday, Oct 15, 9 AM

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

• NO Detours for MD 210 northbound and southbound traffic!
• Detours for Kerby/Livingston cross traffic will continue until the end of the project.
• The SHA Detour Traffic Alert is here.

Bicyclist Struck and Killed by Hit-and-Run Driver - Police Ask for Our Help

(Click on the image for Darcy Spencer's News4 report)

From the PGPD Blog:
The Prince Georges County Police Department Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit is actively investigating a fatal pedestrian hit-and-run that occurred on Wednesday. The victim is identified as 38-year-old John Gullickson of Accokeek.
On October 9, 2019, at approximately 6:20 am, a 911 caller reported seeing an unresponsive man on the ground near the roadway in the area of McKendree and Accokeek Roads.  An off-duty EMS Captain with the DC Fire and EMS Department was on his way to work when he drove past the scene.  The captain immediately stopped and began life-saving measures on the victim while PGPD officers and PGFD paramedics rushed to the scene.  Officers determined Guillickson was suffering from trauma to his body.  Paramedics continued CPR and transported him to a local area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The initial investigations reveals that Guillickson was riding his bicycle southbound on McKendree Road when a vehicle stuck him from the rear and fled the scene.
Detectives are working to identify the driver. If anyone can assist investigators to identify or locate the driver of the striking vehicle, they are asked to call 911 or 301-731-4422. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477); online at www.pgcrimesolvers.com or the “P3 Tips”

Driver sentenced to more than 14 years in fatal hit-and-run of U.S. sailor on Wilson Bridge

(Click on the image for Lynh Bui's Washington Post report)

• In one of the last conversations Christian Guerreiro had with his father, the young U.S. Navy sailor had asked what happens to a person’s financial affairs after they die.
• Four days after their father-son talk, Christian Guerreiro was dead. But the 21-year-old did not die on a military mission or in combat.
• Rather, on Aug. 1, 2018, he was killed in a hit-and-run crash after an SUV plowed into him and his friend as they were fixing the sports car they’d been riding in after it broke down along the side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge near National Harbor in Maryland.
• On Monday, the driver convicted of killing Guerreiro and fleeing the scene, John David Mueller Jr., 33, was sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison — a punishment more than five years above the maximum recommended in state guidelines.
• Jorge Guerreiro said he wished Mueller had pleaded guilty instead of putting the family through the pain of a four-day trial, further wounding the grieving family.

Give the Gift of Warmth

Have a gently worn coat taking up space in your closet?
It can keep someone warm this winter.

Donated coats can be placed in the wooden barrel outside of the District VII Community room.
Contacts:

• Cpl. Rannacher, 240-507-8110, sdrannacher@co.pg.md.us
• Cpl. Blackwell, 240-481-5871, vablackwell@co.pg.md.us

Amazon-recommended IP cameras with huge security risks

(Click on the image for the video)

• Which? has carried out tests on six wireless cameras and found serious security flaws - despite all of them having thousands of apparently positive reviews and earning a coveted “Amazon’s Choice” recommendation, which ensures they are prominently displayed on the tech giant’s website. 
• Many of these devices are marketed as being suitable for use as baby monitors.
• The report is on cameras sold by Amazon in the UK but many of the same brands are sold in the U.S.
• If you’re shopping for a wireless camera, do your research.
• Don’t just consider price, but also look at the company. Have you heard of the brand? Does it have a reputable-looking website with a customer service team you can contact if something goes wrong? Don’t just rely on apparently positive customer reviews. These cameras tend to have hundreds of positive reviews, but always check the negative reviews too, on sites such as Amazon. See if any issues sound worrying, such as the ones we’ve highlighted above.
• Ultimately, consider whether it’s worth saving on a product that’s designed to keep you or your family safe and secure.

Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) Fatal Crash Map

(Click on the image for the live map)

• This data set shows all fatal crashes and their investigative outcomes from PPD's Accident Investigation Unit (AID) from 1/1/19 to the present. The whole dataset gets refreshed nightly. This means the dataset will show new records the day after the source data has updated.
• The Fatal Crash Database includes crash locations, investigative outcomes, the age and sex of the victim (or victims), information on how each crash occurred and which types of vehicles were involved.
• It appears that a similar capability is not presently available in Maryland nor in Prince George's County.

Dispose Unused or Expired Prescription Medications in the District VII Lobby - Oct 26

If you don’t properly dispose of the unused or expired prescription drugs in your home, they might find a new one. 
The non-medical use of prescription drugs ranks second only to marijuana as the most common form of drug abuse in America. The majority of teenagers abusing prescription drugs get them from family and friends—and the home medicine cabinet.

Here’s a Look at the New State Laws Taking Effect on October 1, 2019

(Click on the image for the Maryland Matters/ Capital News Service article)

Among the new public safety related laws:

• Pedestrian safety: SB 460 — Drivers who fail to stop for pedestrians will face a maximum fine of $1,000, up from $500. The fines will contribute to a Pedestrian Safety Fund, which will be used for traffic calming, enforcement and education.
• Driving under the influence: HB 707 — The penalties for drunk and drugged driving offenses are becoming more severe. If you have prior convictions for operating either a vehicle or vessel under the influence, or if you commit a homicide in the process, there are now longer sentences and more costly fines.
  The bill increases the maximum penalties for a person convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol or under the influence of alcohol per se, while impaired by alcohol, while impaired by drugs or drugs and alcohol, or while impaired by a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) when that person has certain prior convictions. A person who has two prior convictions for any of the above-mentioned offenses is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to five years imprisonment and/or a $5,000 fine. The penalties are more stringent when that person (1) has three or more prior convictions for any of those offenses or (2) was previously convicted of a single specified homicide or life-threatening injury by motor vehicle or vessel offense. Such a violator is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to 10 years imprisonment and/or a $10,000 fine. 

String of Violent Crimes Caught by Doorbell Cameras

(Click on the image for the Nightly News report)

Here She Is, the Safest Driver in Los Angeles [and $20,000 richer!]

(Click on the image for the New York Times article)

Deborra Sarei, 46, a resident of Downey, Calif., who takes the 105 to the 605 to Lakewood each morning to drop off her daughter at school, knew she was up to the two-month challenge. She faced off against 11,500 other entrants who reside in, or drive in and near, the city of Los Angeles. They participated by letting a mobile app spy on them behind the wheel to track phone distraction, speed, braking, acceleration and cornering.
With constant monitoring, Ms. Sarei quickly realized she’d need to recalibrate her driving habits. But driving “safer” sometimes got her into trouble on busy freeways.
“There were moments on the freeway where people would literally cut you off to go to the next lane,” Ms. Sarei said. “It was hard to prevent causing an accident because you had to brake and then accelerate to get out of the situation.”
Still, Ms. Sarei made sure to never creep past speed limits. To make up for the extra time spent on the road, she told her daughter to be ready to leave for school 10 minutes earlier than usual.
“When we were in the slow lane, we’d be going at a certain speed limit and people would be whizzing by us,” she said. “We started saying, ‘Well, you’re not going to be L.A.’s safest driver.’”
Ms. Sarei is now known as L.A.’s safest driver. The $20,000 purse and the bragging rights are all hers.