Rockville City Police Department

Rockville City Police Department
Common name Rockville Police Department
Abbreviation RCPD

Patch of the Rockville City Police Department

Flag of Rockville, Maryland
Agency overview
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Legal jurisdiction Rockville, Maryland, U.S.
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters Rockville, Maryland, U.S.
Agency executive T.N. Treschuk, Chief of Police
Website
http://www.rockvillemd.gov/index.aspx?nid=248

The Rockville City Police Department (RCPD) is an American law enforcement agency responsible for patrolling the city of Rockville, the third largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. The RCPD patrols the city in cooperation with the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD).[1][2][3] The agency serves over 65,000 people.[4]

Organization

The current chief of police is T.N. Treschuk. The RCPD is divided into three bureaus:[5]

Falling under the Office of the Chief, the RCPD also has the following sections:[5]

History

2010s

2014: Interstate 270 closure

Controversy

On the morning of March 11, 2014, the Montgomery County Police Department, Maryland State Police, RCPD, and Prince George's County Police Department, acting on a tip set up a roadblock on across all 12-lanes on Interstate 270 and walked car to car with pistols, shotguns and semiautomatic rifles drawn. The incident brought hundreds of cars and thousands of motorists on the interstate to a standstill for 45-minutes as dozens of police officers conducted warrantless vehicle-to-vehicle searches at gunpoint[6] for suspects alleged to have participated in a bank robbery. A controversy over tactics used by officers has erupted, with reports of officers walking down I-270 between stopped cars with guns drawn, telling people to get back in their vehicles, and demanding commuters pop their trunks without any explanation why. One woman was reportedly shouted at by police with weapons drawn after she'd opened her car door to throw up, having gotten carsick from sitting in traffic for so long. MCPD Chief Manger defended the incident.[7] Don Troop, an innocent bystander who witnessed the incident, told the Washington Post that a group of officers made its way to his car and other cars around him. “They were just walking along saying: "Pop the trunk! Pop the trunk!” Troop said he overheard a man in a truck next to him call out to another motorist: "The police are looking for bank robbers." A short time later, about nine officers approached his car — including state police in tan uniforms, county police in dark uniforms and at least one plainclothes officer wearing a yellow tie. Among their commands to motorists that Troop heard: “Stay in your car.” “Pop the trunk.” “Get your hands on the steering wheel. Get you hands up where we can see them.” Cpl. Aaron Smith, a pilot flying a Prince George's County helicopter dispatched to assist stated “We saw that they were searching traffic and going vehicle to vehicle.”[8] Montgomery County Police spokesman Captain Paul Starks described the incident as a "systematic check of trunks and rear hitches" of detained vehicles.[9] The suspects were eventually apprehended.

See also

References

  1. "About Rockville". City of Rockville.
  2. "Preface" (PDF). Rockville City Budget.
  3. "Public Safety" (PDF). Rockville City Budget.
  4. "QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Rockville Police Chief Official Website
  6. "Police Close I270 in search for bank robbers". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, Inc. March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  7. "After I-270 Closure A Question Over Tactics". WTOP 103.5 FM. WTOP News. March 12, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  8. Morse, Dan (March 11, 2014). "Police Halt Montgomery County Commuters on I-270 to hunt for bank robbery suspects". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  9. "Police Close I-270 during search". MyFoxDC. March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2014.

Coordinates: 39°4′53″N 77°9′6″W / 39.08139°N 77.15167°W / 39.08139; -77.15167

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