Recently, Rockville was named the 4th Safest Suburb in the United States!  As one of my key priorities has continued to be public safety, I am extremely proud of the steps we've made (and continue to make) regarding safety in Rockville!  Specifically, to determine these "Safest Suburb" rankings, SmartAsset evaluated: violent crime rate, property crime rate, vehicular mortality rate, drug poisoning mortality rate, and percentage of adults engaging in excessive drinking.  Rockville ranked extremely high in all categories!  Regarding our recent strides, the Rockville City Police Department is now the best paid police department in the area and full staffed. Our Police Chief, Jason West, has been a tremendous leader for the RCPD.  Additionally, the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department is ordering new vehicles for their fleet and continues their amazing support of the City.  Further, City Staff continue to focus on important safety initiatives.  Thus, I wanted to express a huge thank you all the work being done by the Rockville City Police Department (Chief West), Rockville Volunteer Fire Department (Chief Lazar), and Rockville City Staff (City Manager Mihelich) for all their work in making Rockville one of the safest places in America!  https://rockvilleredi.org/rockville-named-4th-safest-suburb-in-the-united-states/

As a further example of safety leadership in Rockville, as the school year begins tomorrow, I am extremely proud of Rockville's leadership on school safety.  As you may know, RCPD Corporal Derrick Tibbs has been the Community Engagement Officer at Richard Montgomery High School for the past few years. Corporal Tibbs has done an amazing job at engaging with the students and helping to keep RMHS and its feeder schools safe -- and he even coaches RMHS track as well as football!   Accordingly, I am pleased to convey that the City has added a Community Engagement Officer to Wootton High School beginning this school year!  This addition significantly enhances our footprint in the schools.  RCPD Corporal Steve Pascali, a 23 year veteran, has been assigned to Wootton High School as the school's new Community Engagement Officer.  Corporal Pascali previously worked with County Schools at the Montgomery County Police Department, and he is very familiar with the schools and MCPS staff.  Assuming safety responsibility for a second high school and three additional feeder schools in our City is a great step forward for our City!