A mid-June weekend was coming to an finish on the Castlebay Irish Pub in Annapolis when, contained in the Major Road bar and restaurant, a struggle broke out.
Edward O’Brien, a 56-year-old man from Pennsylvania, was a part of a sprawling brawl. In accordance with charging paperwork, by the point police arrived, he had choked and punched a lady within the face and bloodied a bartender. When officers tried to arrest him, he lunged towards them and tried to seize one in every of their handguns.
By the point Monday got here round, O’Brien had been charged with a number of counts of first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and disarming a regulation enforcement officer. He has since been indicted by a grand jury and a trial date could possibly be set by late September.
The Annapolis Police Division desires its new summer season crime plan to stop incidents like the one at Castlebay.
The plan places extra officers close to bars via the top of August, whereas additionally dedicating sources to serve excellent warrants and fight violent and property crimes.
Deputy Chief Maj. Stan Brandford mentioned the company’s plan just isn’t a response to a rise in bar fights or rowdiness round Metropolis Dock. As an alternative, with the anticipated inflow of vacationers and occasions all through downtown Annapolis, “We simply wish to make sure that we’ve a presence in that space,” Brandford mentioned.
It’s not the primary time the division has taken such measures. Final yr, amid an increase in practically each part-one crime — homicides, robberies, burglaries, rapes, critical assaults and thefts — Annapolis Police Chief Ed Jackson started providing extra time hours so as to add further patrol officers to “areas affected by violence.”
Annapolis Police outline “part-one” offenses as these it reviews to the Maryland State Police and the FBI.
By the top of the eight-week interval in final yr’s plan, two youngsters had been shot and killed in Annapolis, whereas charges of every other part-one offense had decreased, the Capital Gazette discovered. Jackson then prolonged the division’s summertime technique into the autumn.
When the chief launched this yr’s summer season crime plan June 6, charges for the division’s high-priority crimes remained mostly stagnant or declined when in comparison with that time in 2023 — Annapolis is investigating simply one homicide in 2024 and solely aggravated assaults noticed a notable improve, with 17 extra incidents than final yr.
The division’s 2024 summertime plan revolves round nighttime security within the downtown space. The precedence, in keeping with an overview, is to extend foot patrols “in areas affected by violence, bodily altercations, loud noise, common disturbances and alcohol associated incidents … to offer residents and residents a way of security.”
Some elements of final yr’s plan have been picked up by the division once more this summer season, akin to arresting people on excellent warrants and finding unlawful handguns. Normal enforcement insurance policies and academic alternatives — akin to automotive theft prevention — are additionally listed.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. Each space has its personal challenges,” Brandford mentioned Monday. “However we attempt to get good police service wherever its wanted.”
The plan additionally consists of the division’s long-term options akin to neighborhood policing favored by Jackson. Particularly, it describes the Annapolis Police re-entry program for residents returning house from jail, participation of the Gun Violence Intervention Workforce, which helped launch a violence interrupter and mediator program earlier this yr in Eastport, and collaboration with neighborhood teams, authorities businesses and native companies.
“Each neighborhood and each individual deserves to be secure and our metropolis is not going to be resilient and profitable till psychological and bodily well being, financial and social imbalances are acknowledged and successfully addressed,” Jackson wrote within the plan. “The extra we put money into leaving nobody behind, the safer and safe every individual and every neighborhood will likely be.”
The plan is predicted to stay in impact till Aug. 31, in keeping with the define.
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