Prince George's County police chief ends unauthorized incentive program

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Two leaders at the Prince George’s County Police Department are in trouble after the police chief said the two commanders were running an unauthorized contest that awarded officers for making arrests and giving tickets.

Chief Hank Stawinski said it was happening for six months in the Bowie district (District 2). 

Stawinski described the program as a contest among officers where the officer who was “most productive” was given 10 hours of comp time. He said what was measured was any enforcement action like citations, warnings, equipment repair orders and arrests, and that there were no quotas involved.

“This conduct is not illegal, but I ended it,” Stawinski said. “I did not agree with it because I believe that people could view this program through the lens of enforcement for the sake of incentive and that is not in alignment with the culture and values in Prince George’s County.”

He apologized on behalf of the department saying the program was not appropriate policing.

He said the commander and assistant commander, who were not named, are now being reassigned from the Bowie district and new leadership will be instated there as of this weekend.

Stawinski said, thus far, there have been no community complaints in the Bowie district related to the contest in the last six months.

If any resident has a concern about an interaction with a patrol officer in District 2, they should contact the Inspector General of the Prince George’s County Police Department at police_oig@co.pg.md.us. 

The Inspector General discovered the program and alerted the chief July 26.