City of Laurel, Maryland

The City of Laurel Public Safety Master Plan is a part of the Master Plan document that stands alone as a total replacement for the goals, objectives and recommendations of the Plan and Update, providing a vision for the City of Laurel. The Emergency Services Commission, along with representatives from the City of Laurel Police Department, Laurel Public Works Department, Laurel Parks and Recreation, Laurel Community Planning and Business Services, Laurel Volunteer Fire Department and Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad, gathered together to discuss the services that each organization provides ensuring that the current boundaries, or first due, created in the last document still stand true and ensure fast service and minimized call times to residents that live in the City of Laurel and ensure their safety. They also discussed these services based on future growth of the City and how these issues could change in the future if Laurel were to grow within or outside their boundaries.

Fire and Rescue service in the Laurel area is provided by the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department, Company 10, and the Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad, Company 49.

The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department, founded in 1902, is currently located at the corner of Cherry Lane and Van Dusen Road. The Department employs five full-time paid Prince George’s County fire fighters and has a volunteer force of 125 members, 79 of whom are active. New recruitments to the department average 12 members annually. The station is equipped with three pumper trucks, one ladder truck, one air truck, and one mobile command unit.

Founded in 1952, the Laurel Volunteer Rescue Squad was established to provide emergency first aid and transportation for residents in the Laurel vicinity. The Squad’s main station is located on Laurel-Bowie Road, east of US 1. A satellite station on the corner of Eighth Street and Talbott Avenue was established to help meet the growing service demands of the area. The Squad’s membership totals 125 volunteers, 75 of whom are active. It is equipped to respond to any type of medical emergency and/or fire and rescue call. Currently the Squad has three ambulances, a heavy-duty rescue truck, a light-duty rescue truck, two rescue boats and an all-terrain vehicle.

Primary funding for both Company 10 and Company 49 comes from the City of Laurel. Other major sources are donations and fund-raising projects. Neither the Rescue Squad nor Fire Department receives County or State funds.

Police protection within the City limits of Laurel is provided primarily by the Laurel Police Department. The main station is located in the Barkman Municipal Building north of Main Street between B and ‘C Streets. In addition, the Department staffs a substation in the Laurel Lakes Center temporarily to house the Criminal Investigation Division. Currently the Police Department is organized into four divisions: Services, Criminal Investigation, Uniformed Patrol Division, and Narcotics Enforcement and Education, and is authorized for 42 officers and 14 non-sworn personnel. In addition to cars, motorcycles and a van, the Department is well equipped with a crime lab, a blood and alcohol test van, a secured vehicle and an Emergency Response Team van, totaling 37 vehicles. Located within the Police Department is a six-cell temporary holding facility capable of accommodating one to two persons per cell prior to their transfer to another facility. Laurel is one of three municipalities within Prince George’s County with its own full service police force, although its primary jurisdiction is within the Laurel City. If you would like to check out the City of Laurel Public Safety Master Plan, please click the link below.

 City of Laurel Public Safety Master Plan>>

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