Montgomery Village News Articles
Nearly 100 residents attend Montgomery Village Public Safety Town Hall
On Oct. 13, Montgomery Village Foundation (MVF) hosted a Public Safety Town Hall in conjunction with Montgomery County District 7 Councilmember Dawn Luedtke, Montgomery County 6th District Police Department (MCPD 6D) and Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS). Nearly 100 residents were in attendance to receive information, updates and statistics, share concerns and ask questions about crime and public safety. The presentation slides may be viewed here.
In her opening remarks, Luedtke noted her office works alongside several groups and with the other councilmembers to handle multi-dimensional challenges that county residents face every day. She highlighted several areas where her office has recently been focused, including MCPD staffing, juvenile justice, Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act, immigration, homelessness and behavioral health, pedestrian and traffic safety, and parking.
Regarding MCPD staffing, Luedtke is working to ensure that police and public safety professionals are supported through fair and smart public policy decisions. Two programs that have proven to be successful in the county are the Drone as a First Responder program and the Real Time Intelligence Center, which are working together to provide better intelligence and response time. She noted juvenile law is handled by the state, but amid rising juvenile crime rates, her office is focused on areas to fill in the gaps such as funding for behavioral health, substance use treatment and other supportive services.
On the legislative front, Luedtke said the Sgt. Patrick Kepp Act recently went into effect, providing a stronger legal toolkit against negligent and aggressive drivers through higher fines, jail time, more points and an expanded list of infractions. She was hopeful this would produce a reduction in extreme-speed crashes through consistent enforcement, judicial follow-through and public education. In addition, Luedtke worked to update county immigration law allowing for more U Visa applications and removing the statute of limitations for processing.
Luedtke also reported that since 2021, the county has seen an increase in people experiencing homelessness. She noted using the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) to get people into treatment, identify resources and gaps in services, and develop local strategic actions plans.
To help address county-wide pedestrian and traffic safety issues, a number of changes have recently taken place, including the “No Right on Red Law” going into effect for downtown and town center locations throughout the county. In addition, in September, the county signed a contract to install 140 new speed cameras and 76 red-light cameras to support their Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate serious and fatal collisions by 2023. Luedtke also noted that the Montgomery Village Avenue Safety Improvement project will be completed by spring 2026.
Finally, for parking issues on county streets (not in/on privately owned lots or streets), such as sight distance and blocked intersection concerns, Luedtke encouraged residents to contact her office at
Next, 6th District Police Department Commander Brian Dillman provided local crime statistics and public safety initiatives for Montgomery Village. Dillman said 6D is trending well in most crime areas, showing a 13.8% reduction over 2024. The exception was in Motor Vehicle Theft, which saw an increase of 10 incidents this year. He also pointed out that Non-fatal Shootings had decreased and attributed the trend to a larger number of arrests of individuals for unlicensed firearms.
The Commander was also particularly proud of work his predecessor, fellow officers, Councilmember Luedtke and the owners and management of Cider Mill have been able to accomplish. Their collaborative approach has resulted in an 85% decrease in violent crime in that area. He also noted a decrease in crime in the 18 to 21 age range, however, the direct increase in those aged 22-plus showed that regular offenders have just grown older.
Dillman added that since COVID, MCPD has been steadily resuming routine traffic stops; these stops have contributed to the progress made in other crime areas. Year to date 2025, more than 6,000 traffic stops have been made.
Comparing Montgomery Village to both Clarksburg and Olney for number of residents, he said the Village is certainly the densest, as a community of only 3.96 square miles. While statistics portray the Village with more incidents, all three communities trend together on types of incidents.
Regarding the Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program, Dillman reported that since instituted in July 2024, the drone has responded to 776 calls, 115 of which eliminated the need for an officer to drive to the scene. This allows for larger, more efficient coverage and better distribution of staffing and resources in an already short-staffed department county-wide.
Dillman also said the drone program uses live 911 calls to pinpoint incidents and launch the drone within 30 seconds, when needed. As a result, MCPD has a great response time; has helped find people; determined if weapons are on scene; and other benefits to the police. He emphasized that the drone only responds to service calls and is not just blanket surveillance. More information and statistics on the DFR program can be found here.
He was sympathetic to parking issues in the Village, noting there are parking challenges all over the county. Between June 2024 and September 2025, the Traffic Compliance Officer issued more than 3,707 parking violations, 1,693 warnings and ordered 286 vehicles towed. Residents may report parking issues on county streets by calling 240-773-5700 or visiting the website here.
When asked about how MCPD uses security cameras within communities, Dillman also encouraged residents to consider participating in the Camera Registry Program, where they can register via Camera Registration – MoCoConnect and share their security camera locations with MCPD. This program allows MCPD to access residents’ cameras in their efforts to solve residential crimes.
As a reminder, residents can obtain up-to-date public safety data from the MCPD by visiting their website. Commander Brian Dillman can be reached at
Representatives from Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) Beth Anne Nesselt, Battalion Chief Jay Blake and Jim Resnick discussed Fire/Rescue Data and Facts, Fire/Rescue Operations and Fire Prevention.
Nesselt reported the following MCFRS stats across the county:
- 5% increase in call volume, with 142,617 calls in 2024
- Medical incidents continue to dominate; in 2024, 79% of all incidents were Emergency Medical Services (EMS), far outpacing fire-related responses (13%)
- Major fire loss: While fire incidents are less frequent than EMS calls, the county experienced several high-dollar-loss fires in 2024.
She also noted a number of fire safety and prevention measures that residents can do to decrease the risk of an incident. Nesselt reminded residents to check their smoke alarms regularly and replace them if they are more than 10 years old. MCFRS recommends purchasing quality and professionally rated charging devices and batteries for electronics, as they often see these as the source of house fires. She said MCFRS offers a free Home Safety Visit and Smoke Alarm Checkup Program; residents can schedule an appointment by calling 311 or visiting www.mcfrs.org/mcsafe. Nesselt encouraged residents to take advantage of the valuable resources about fire safety and prevention available on the site as well.
Battalion Chief Jay Blake said the Gaithersburg/Washington Grove Fire Department, which services Montgomery Village, is the busiest station in the county. He also noted that with the Village’s proximity to the Public Safety Training Academy, the response rate is very high, as there are always more personnel in the immediate area. He reported that between July 1, 2025 and September 30, 2025, there were 19 working fires in Montgomery County, and the majority started in the bedroom or living room. There have been more structure fires in 2025 compared to 2024 (79 versus 67); 56% of the structure fires were documented as building fires. This year six fires were significant in terms of property loss and one of them was in Stedwick. Of those six, one in Gaithersburg resulted in one fatality due to no working smoke detectors.
He highlighted the three common risk factors in fire incidents and encouraged residents to call for help immediately:
- Occupants attempted to extinguish the fire before seeking help
- Delayed notification to emergency services (911)
- Absence of functional smoke alarms
Blake said that overall demand has increased marginally (2%) through the first 9 months of 2025 in our area, driven by increasing call volume. He said emergency medical calls in our area have declined slightly (-.3%), while fire-related calls for service and service calls have increased, 11.2% and 27.4%, respectively.
Jim Resnick then discussed MCFRS’s Community Risk Reduction efforts under an “Prevention and Education = Improved Resilience” initiative. MCFRS is working to ensure all residences have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms; reinforce and educate the importance of fire escape plans; and teach compartmentation in the home and rapid notification to MCFRS and police.
Resnick said that for home house fires today, residents have less then 3 minutes to escape safely due to the differences in home, appliance and general materials; in comparison, in the 1970s and 1980s residents had about 17 minutes to escape house fires safely.
Resnick also noted the importance of making the right call for emergencies:
- 9-1-1 only for emergencies (e.g., signs or symptoms of heart attack or stroke, Autism/Alzheimer’s/Dementia)
- 301-279-8000 only to report non-emergencies
- 3-1-1 general Montgomery County government information
He also cautioned residents that it matters what they say when they call 9-1-1, as this helps determine the appropriate level of response from MCFRS:
- Sick person or injured person with no complications: one ambulance will respond
- Chest pains, trouble breathing, diabetic or complex medical or trauma patient: one ambulance and one paramedic engine will respond
- Unconscious person, cardiac arrest: one ambulance and two paramedic engines will respond
- Automatic fire alarm: one engine and one truck/tower will respond
- House or building fire: five engines, two trucks/towers, one rescue squad, one ambulance and two chiefs will respond
To learn more, visit the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service here.
About the author
