A Maryland police chief has retired after decades in power only to unleash a series of arson attacks on his suspected enemies over the next ten years, according to a slew of charges unveiled Wednesday.
David Crawford, 69, the former police chief of Laurel, Maryland, is accused of attempted murder and a dozen arsonists from 2011 to 2020. He resigned from the police department in 2010. He is charged with twenty crimes in Prince George’s district alone, According to the The Baltimore Sun—Four counts of first-degree attempted murder, four counts of second-degree attempted murder, one count of first-degree arson, five counts of second-degree arson, and six counts of malicious arson. But this is not the only jurisdiction where Crawford is being prosecuted. He was also charged in the provinces of Montgomery, Frederick and Charles. In the three provinces, he faces 32 crimes.
According to police, the arsonists followed a pattern: a figure with a hood approached the target, poured gasoline from liter jugs and lit the flame with a stick wrapped in cloth.
In a statement released Wednesday, the Prince George County Fire Department said: “In the course of the investigation, it was established that the structures and vehicles that Crawford intentionally set on fire were related to victims with whom he had previously had differences of opinion. “
Crawford allegedly left behind public officials, the police chief who replaced him, a woman who taught his wife a training program called “white privilege”, two doctors who had previously treated him for a back injury, a neighbor in Ellicott City, Maryland, and his own family members, including a stepson, whom he allegedly attacked three times. Police have included in the search history of Crawford the addresses of several of his intended victims.
‘All the fires were at night. “In six of the arsons, the victim and their families were asleep in their homes,” the fire brigade continued. Investigators said Crawford hid his identity for surveillance cameras with hooded sweatshirts. He allegedly set cars, garages and houses on fire.
Oddly enough, a LinkedIn account apparently belonging to Crawford paints a particularly cheerful image of the alleged retired police chief arsonist. In the biography, Crawford describes himself as a ‘folk lover’ and mentions one of his personal mottos: ‘Find the positive.’
He also recalls important advice from a mentor: ‘95% of your law enforcement challenges melt away if you remember to talk to people the way you want to talk and treat people the way you want to be treated. ‘