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Carroll County stalls on police referendum
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Related Topics: Carroll County
Carroll County (Map, News) - The move toward a county police department in Carroll will remain stalled if the Board of Commissioners doesn’t decide soon on a referendum, officials said.
The Maryland General Assembly required that there be a countywide vote if the commissioners wanted to move forward with reorganizing the police force into a countywide agency with an appointed chief. But the commissioners still have not voted to approve the referendum despite an Aug. 11 deadline to get the measure on November’s ballot, said Commissioner Michael Zimmer.
“I’ve been pushing bring this to a vote since May. If it doesn’t come to a vote, there’s no referendum,” Zimmer said. “If we fail to pass an ordinance, it means we’ll continue with the status quo, with policing split between the Sheriff’s Office and the [State Police] resident trooper program.”
The commissioners had previously voted to abolish the resident trooper program and reduce the role of the Sheriff’s Office in favor of a county police department, but were overruled by the General Assembly with the requirement for a referendum.
Commissioner Dean Minnich said he felt no urgency to move forward with the referendum, since it would be difficult to make the case for a countywide police force when the planning process he’d intended had been halted by the state legislature.
“It would give an advantage to the Sheriffs’ Associations...they’d be in a much better position to lobby and campaign than we would,” Minnich said. “I don’t see it happening this year.”
Sheriff Kenneth Tregoning, in a letter to The Examiner Friday, urged the commissioners to move forward with the referendum.
“The board majority may prefer to circumvent the legislative process by not adopting the ordinance, which will eliminate the referendum and public oversight of the policing issue,” Tregoning said.
Tregoning advocated for the consolidation of police powers in the Sheriff’s Office — and a raise in deputies’ pay and benefits to bring them up to the same level as other departments — but insisted he’d go along with whatever the outcome of the referendum would be.
Commissioner Julia Gouge could not be reached for comment.
msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
8:31 PM MST on Mon., Jul. 21, 2008 re: "Carroll County stalls on police referendum"
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10:01 AM MST on Mon., Jul. 14, 2008
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6:50 AM MST on Sun., Jul. 13, 2008
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5:54 AM MST on Sun., Jul. 13, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
I am glad to see Tregoning's plan fail. I hope the commissioners ask for more Troopers and the Deputies revert back to court security and paper service. MSP is the only true law enforcement in the county.
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Examiner Reader said:
The losers here are the citizens of Carroll. The commissioners don't care what you think. The childish game being played by the commissioners has reduced the number of officers on the street. Carroll now has less officers than back in October 2007. There are numerous times when the nearest officer is 20 minutes or more away for a call. There have been situations where no officer was available to answer the call. Listen to a scanner. The commissioners have virtually shut down the Sheriffs Office and its services to the citizens. They cut funding, vehicles, and Deputy positions. The citizens should be outraged. Commissioner Minnich what happened to all the information produced by your exhaustive studies in support of a police force? They must not be too convincing to withstand the test of a vote! The Sheriff supports the decision of whatever the citizens decide, once ALL the information is available to make an educated decision. Commissioners I'd like some bread with the baloney.
9 agree | 0 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
If anyone needs a "binky" that would be the Commissioners. Tregoning wants only to give the citizens of Carroll Co a say! Dean & Julia see this as an afront to their power. Because they didn't get their own personal police force, they have completely shut the Sheriffs Office out of their lives. In their minds, the Sheriff no longer exists. Talk about your sour grapes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Examiner Reader said:
Tregoning opined that, "The board majority may prefer to circumvent the legislative process[.]" In other words, 'You are not doing what I want, so I will say bad things about you!' Give Tregoning a binky.
1 agree | 7 disagree
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