Alsobrooks' criminal record calls into question her tough stance on crime

Angela Alsobrooks, chief administrative officer of Prince George's County, is touting her successes in the fight against crime in the Senate election campaign against former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD), which is being closely watched by Democrats.

But Alsobrooks' more than ten years in two different district offices, where he also worked on crime-fighting issues, refutes the Senate candidate's recent claims from his campaign.

The hotly contested race could determine the Senate majority, and both candidates have made fighting crime a key part of their campaigns. A recent poll found the issue was among the top concerns of voters in Maryland counties bordering Washington, DC, including Montgomery and Prince George's County.

Alsobrooks' latest ad touts that violent crime fell 50% during her time as Prince George's County's top prosecutor from 2011 to 2018. The number is accurate, but Alsobrooks failed to mention that crime rose sharply in the years following her appointment as county supervisor in late 2018.

According to the same FBI data, overall violent crime in the county increased by more than 30% from 2018 to 2022. Local police figures show that car thefts increased by nearly 500% from 2019 to 2023.

“It is a prosecutor's job to protect families, and as a prosecutor, I have done so without apology,” Alsobrooks said in her complaint. “I believe that anyone who commits a heinous crime or harms a child must be held accountable.”

Alsobrooks said that as county manager, she made “investments to recruit and train more officers,” pointing to her proposed fiscal year 2025 budget. Her proposal calls for a 2% increase, or about $7.6 million, for the Prince George's County Police Department to fund 100 recruits.

Previously, she helped push through police reforms in response to the 2020 murder of George Floyd. In 2021, that included Prince George's County allocating $20 million for a new police training facility and a new mental health center for prisoners, even as violent crime soared. From 2019 to 2020, Prince George's County saw a 58% increase in murders, 19% increase in robberies, and 15% increase in aggravated assaults.

A spokeswoman for Alsobrooks' campaign did not address the increase in crime during her tenure as county administrator.

“The facts speak for themselves: As Prince George's County's top police officer, Angela Alsobrooks oversaw a 50% drop in violent crime. As county commissioner, she increased the police budget by 22%,” said Gina Ford, senior communications adviser to Alsobrook's campaign, in a statement to the Washington Examiner“She is proud to have opened the first mental health facility of its kind in the county. And on her first day in the Senate, she will fight to ban assault weapons so we can combat the tragic epidemic of gun violence in our country.”

As a prosecutor, Alsobrooks handled at least two violent crime cases in which attorneys agreed to lesser crimes and sentences.

In a 2012 case, a man accepted a plea deal for beating a 72-year-old man with a baseball bat after the man tried to rob him. Alsobrooks had downgraded the charges from attempted first- and second-degree murder to first-degree assault.

In another case from the same year, Alsobrooks' office reached a plea agreement with a teenager who stabbed his 92-year-old neighbor to death. The teen was sentenced to 60 years for second-degree murder after Prince George's Assistant District Attorney Tara Harrison said prosecutors lacked evidence for a first-degree conviction but that the verdict showed “justice was done.” The older woman's granddaughter vowed to fight his parole when the time came.

The campaign has previously lobbied with the support of law enforcement officials, including sheriffs in Anne Arundel County and Baltimore City, and five district attorneys. Alsobrooks' platform on crime remains vague. Her website says she “strongly believes in the need for comprehensive change that promotes safety, justice and equality for all residents.”

Hogan, who served as governor from 2015 to 2023, has drawn support from a number of law enforcement and first responder officials as he positions himself as a “law-and-order” candidate to contrast Alsobrooks' background as a prosecutor.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

His plan to combat crime includes more funding for law enforcement, tougher action against repeat offenders, confiscating weapons from people with mental illnesses and violent crimes, and ending local asylum policies designed to protect undocumented migrants from deportation.

“Angela Alsobrooks has underfunded and underprioritized public safety in Prince George's County at every turn,” Hogan spokeswoman Blake Kernen said in a recent statement about Alsobrooks' crime report. “While Angela Alsobrooks was defunding the police and speaking out against cops, he was refunding the police and supporting Democrats.”