August 18, 2024 Montgomery County is facing a troubling amount of juvenile auto theft incidents, resulting in dangerous confrontations that have put both police officers and the public at risk. In the latest string of incidents, Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) officers encountered reckless behavior from juvenile offenders, leading toContinue Reading

June 26, 2024 Confirming our previous reporting from sources about a week ago, MCPS today appointed outgoing Montgomery County Police Department Chief Jones (who recently retired from MCPD and was replaced by new Police Chief Marc Yamada) in a new position called the Chief of Security and Compliance (read onContinue Reading

April 8th, 2024 – This testimony was given to the County Council on the FY2025 operating budget Hello my name is Jason Makstein and I run the blog Moderately MOCO but today I am testifying as a community advocate about various items in the operating budgets. My focus will beContinue Reading

March 8, 2024 This was sent in as a follow up to Opinion: Defending Effective Policing: The Case Against Restricting Consent Searches and Bill 2-24 – Moderately MOCO following the County Council Public Hearing on the bill. Any councilmember who is for Councilmember Jawando’s Bill 2-24 must be prepared toContinue Reading

February 23, 2024 Councilmember Jawando introduced Bill 2-24 to prohibit police from searching a vehicle when the driver specifically consents to the search. Consent searches are an important tool for police to address serious crime. When police reduce discretionary enforcement, such as traffic stops, violent crime rises. The Montgomery CountyContinue Reading

August 21, 2023 – Christian Lee Full video interview aired on YouTube July 11, 2023 Being a police officer is a rewarding, albeit demanding job.  Similar to school teachers, cafeteria workers, and guidance counselors, policemen sacrifice every hour of every day in order to serve our students and protect ourContinue Reading

July 27, 2023 – By Anna Lam Crime Crime has always been an aspect of life and society that people have been living with since the beginning of civilization. It’s an intricately layered topic, interconnecting with the law, and how different crime may be in their own respective areas. RecentContinue Reading

By Dana Noga Background We recently wrote about the Community Engagement Officer (CEO) program and Discipline report being in the spotlight at County Council committee meetings. This piece is a follow up to that which will cover CEO the portion of the meeting. You can view the entire meeting here.Continue Reading

Last week the County Council staff put a very detailed (156 page) report on CEOs, SROs, and restorative justice in anticipation on the Monday 3/20 meeting with the Public Safety (PS) and Education & Culture (EC) committees. You can attend the meeting at 9:30am or watch the meeting live onContinue Reading