Prince George's County State's Attorney Targets Gun Loopholes, Truancy, Launches Crime Dashboard

State's Attorney Tara Jackson is pushing to close legal loopholes in Prince George's County gun laws and rolling out a package of crime-fighting tools she says will bring both transparency and accountability to one of Maryland's largest counties.

Jackson sat down with 7News anchor Michelle Marsh on March 27 to discuss gun legislation she wants on the table, a youth truancy program called R.I.S.E., and the pending launch of a public Justice Data Dashboard. The interview followed Jackson's release of a 2025 end-of-year report from her Upper Marlboro office in early March, when she formally announced the full slate of initiatives.

The Justice Data Dashboard is the most public-facing of the new tools. Once live, it will give residents access to real-time crime data and statistics, allowing them to track trends and patterns in their specific neighborhoods. The dashboard is expected to launch in the coming months, though no exact date has been announced.

On truancy, the R.I.S.E. program is designed to address both school absenteeism and youth crime, connecting young people to intervention before their cases reach a courtroom. That initiative sits alongside a broader commitment to expanded community engagement, which Jackson has framed as a long-term effort to rebuild trust between law enforcement and local residents.

Among the less-publicized additions is a conviction integrity referral process, which will allow past cases to be reviewed for potential wrongful convictions. Jackson's office has not yet released procedural details on how referrals will work or who will conduct the reviews.

On gun violence, Jackson's office said it will coordinate with county police to target both gun and crew-related crimes, a pairing that reflects how organized groups drive shootings across the county. Her push to close legal loopholes in existing gun laws represents the legislative dimension of that effort, though no specific bills or statutory language have been publicly identified.

"We must work together as a community to address the root causes of crime and make our neighborhoods safer for all," Jackson said.

The dashboard's eventual launch will serve as the clearest early test of how Jackson's transparency pledge translates into something county residents can actually use.