Archive for the 'Maryland State Police' Category
It looks like Medevac will remain under control of Maryland State Police. The Baltimore Sun saying that a legislative panel unanimously recommended that the operation remain under state police supervision, while calling for further legislative scrutiny of the state EMS system in addition to seeking higher levels of certification, independent accredidation and for safter upgrades. The panel also at the last minute recommended that the fleet be reduced from 12 choppers to 10.
Wanting to explore all options in regards to revamping the Medevac operations of the Maryland State Police, House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Dist. 30) created a work group to explore a proper legislative response when it comes to the state;s emergency services.
Busch tells The Baltimore Sun that the workgroup is about preparing and getting the best information to make the best decisions that can be made. Governor Martin O’Malley (D) has already set aside $40 million for two new helicopters for the aging medevac fleet in his budget for FY 2010. Anne Arundel Sen. John Astle (D-Dist. 30) and Upper Shore Sen. E.J. Pipkin (R-Dist. 36) in a bipartisan effort are proposing a cabinet level position to oversee the operation.
The Maryland State Police Medevac Helicopter System is facing heavy scrutiny after the recent crash in Prince George’s County which saw three of the four people on board killed.Â
WJZ-TV (Channel 13) says that while some feel that the system is being used to liberally, others say that lives are being saved. There is a couple of physisicans that are holding a press conference currently, details to follow on that.
A lot of attention has been paid to the Medevac system. The Washington Post is reporting that there has been renewed calls for Governor Martin O’Malley (D) to privitize the system.
The American Civil Liberties Union made public files from the Maryland State Police showing that the agency spied on peace activists and anti-death penalty groups between 2005 and 2006.
The Baltimore Sun reported that state police officers repeatedly spied on the protest groups and entered the names of some of those group members in a law-enforcement database of people thought to be terrorists or drug traffickers. None of the 43 pages of summaries and computer logs mention the possibility of criminal acts, which usually triggers spying. State police say that they did not impede on anyones freedoms.
Now let’s be clear, the story which was originally reported Friday did not mention the name of Governor Robert Ehrlich (R), the governor who was sitting when all of this happened.
However, it did not stop Governor Martin O’Malley from laying blame. The Sun reporting this morning that Governor in a prepared statement noted that the spying happened under “the previous administration.” O’Malley said that his administration “does not and will not use public resources to target or monitor
peaceful activities where Maryland citizens are exercising their First
Amendment rights.”
Ehrlich, told WJZ-TV (Channel 13) that intelligence made the call.
As I alluded to last night on WAMD (970AM), there are allegations that the screws were put to Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. Terrence Sheridan by the office of Governor Martin O’Malley (D) and Prince George’s Senator Nathaniel Exum (D-Dist. 24).
The Washington Post reported that Hilltop Fleet Services in Capital Heights had it’s inspection license revoked after evidence was found that that the garage issued licenses for hundreds, if not thousands of vehicles its mechanics did not inspect.
Information discovered by the Post’s public information request showed that the license was suspended in August 2002 the revoked nearly a year later and stood until recently.
Before the new license was delivered to Hilltop, Exum requested a delay in the vote to confirm Sheridan as the leader of the MSP, out of concerns about police treatment of minorities. A cause that was later picked up by the legislative black caucus.
Is it me or has the volume been turned up to the max on Black victimhood during this general assembly session. Two times thus far that I noticed where the ire of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus was raised, to the point they made noticeable statements.
Earlier this month, the caucus delayed the vote on confirming Col. Terrance Sheridan as the superintendent of the Maryland State Police. They were unhappy how the agency handled race issues. These issues have included the decades long allegations of racial discrimination. A lawsuit charging the MSP with targeting minority motorists was settled five years ago.
Now, you will not get any arguments from me about a police force and historic allegations of racial discrimination, it’s been documented. Caucus chair State Sen. Verna Jones (D-Dist. 44) from Baltimore City told The Baltimore Sun that they told Sheridan that they want evidence that the agency is committed to diversity in the ranks and that enforcement practices are racially sensitive. I’ll comment on this one later.
Then a week later, the caucus starts to oppose Governor Martin O’Malley’s key in his plan to fight crime, collecting DNA from people arrested for serious burglary charges and violent crimes. Del. Jill Carter (D-Dist. 41) from Baltimore City told the Associated Press that she believed the proposal reverses the presumption of innocence and targets certain groups. The State NAACP Conference in a state adds to the opposition that “Expansion of sample collection to all those arrested for a felony will further exacerbate the racial bias of the criminal justice system.”
Del. Carter is correct in saying that the proposal targets certain groups. Brace yourself, I am about to defend O’Malley (D), who is trying to target rapists, murders and otherwise not so very nice people. For me to say that O’Malley is tough on crime would be a lie and an insult to everyone’s intelligence (including mine), however, this is one of the few ideas in his over the top piety that actually deserves some merit, especially since 11 states have similar DNA rules. But black legislators in Annapolis, walked out of a meeting to express their displeasure. Caucus members tell The Gazette that it’s a matter of civil rights, not race. I think that this is disingenuous considering the above quote above from Carter and the NAACP.
I should also point out the two quotes from the legislators you’ve read earlier, those politicos represent Baltimore City, a majority black jurisdiction. Yes, there are bad officers everywhere, but thankfully in this day in age they do not make up the majority of the police department. I would think that allegations of police misconduct are taken care of in a more timely fashion as opposed to years past. In any event, if you are black, and you live in a majority black city and you are arrested by a police officer who happens to be white and in a majority white police department, that is not racial profiling, that is the result of ironic statistics.
Which leads me to Sen. Jones’ request to see evidence of diversification of the Maryland State Police, which can be applied to any police department. If there is a overlying belief in the black community that police are evil and not to be trusted, why would they want to be apart of it? That is one of the biggest problems facing the police department in her own city, a huge distrust between the community and the department.
If Sen. Jones wants to see diversity in the State Police, she along with the rest of the LBC needs to work bloody hard to change the attitude and mind set of the community before that happens. And overall they need to be honest.
Someone in the caucus needs to say every time someone Black is arrested, it is not a racial incident. Someone needs to say, enough is enough, we cannot continue to use a double standard when someone steals or kills. They need to say that even though our people have been convicted or there is strong evidence that they have committed these crimes, they should not have done these acts, nor should they give a strong idea or clue that they did do these crimes. We need to stop blaming whitey, we need to stop blaming the environment around us, we need to start looking at ourselves. Crab mentality is the true culprit, along with the willingness of deceiving ourselves into believing that everything is a racial incident.
Change needs to start in the community. I would suggest to Del. Carter and Sen. Jones and the LBC that they look around their own communities and start encouraging kids that not all cops are bad and that they should not even be around those who want to commit crimes.
P. Kenneth Burns is the editor/writer of Maryland Politics Today and is a columnist of PolitickerMD.com. He also contributes to Red Maryland and Salisbury News. His email is kennyburns@marylandpolitics.us.
Col. Terrance Sheridan has not been formally confirmed since he was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley (D) to run the Maryland State Police, and he is going to have to wait until at least Wednesday. That is because Black Lawmakers are unhappy about how the agency is handling racial issues.
State Sen. Verna Jones (D-Dist. 44) is chair of the Black Legislative Caucus, who tells The Baltimore Sun that they are still waiting to hear how the MSP is diversifying the squad and how it is handling it’s allegations of racial profiling.  Jones adds that they have had some assurances in years past, but they want some accountability this time.
Sheridan was the chief of the Baltimore County Police before being appointed by O’Malley. Sheridan replaced Tim Hutchins, despite a strong backing of Hutchins from Senate President Thomas Mike Miller (D), who was one of the few non-Baltimore Centered members of O’Malley’s Cabinet.
Apparently, Colonel Thomas “Tim” Hutchins was not competent enough to continue as Secretary of the Maryland State Police, so Governor Martin O’Malley (D) today has announced that he is appointing Baltimore County Poilce Chief Terrence Sheridan to the post.
Sheridan has been over the Baltimore County force for just over a decade (he will be retiring from that post.)Â The Baltimore Sun says that under hit leadership, violent crime in Baltimore County dropped by a fourth, while prerty crime dropped by a third.
Prior to becoming the county top cop, Sheridan worked as the Executive Assistant for Student Safety in the Baltimore County Public School System. Prior to that, Sheridan was on the state force for 30 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and Cheif of the Bureau of Drug Enforcement. Sheridan is a Parkville native, with a B.A. from Loyola College, has graduate and undergraduate credit through the Police Management Program from the University of Virginia. Sheridan was also trained at the National Executive Institute at FBI Headquarters in Quantico Virginia. He currently makes his home in Lutherville.
To fill Sheridan’s current role, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith announced Colonel James Johnson as his nominee. Johnson is a career officer on the force who will assume the duties of chief within the next two weeks.
As far as Hutchins goes, he was appointed to fill in the role of Maryland State Police Secretary after former Baltimore Police Commissioner and current WHFS (105.7FM) personality Ed Norris was brought up on federal corruption charges. Hutchins was cited for his political and his law enforcement experience.
A favorite of troopers in the beginning, the honeymoon wanned after a strategic plan for the department that was talked about, never was distributed. Also, a consensus among troopers did not believe that Hutchins was not supportive of the union’s activities. The union, the State Law Enforcement Officers Labor Alliance, ended up endorsing O’Malley last year. A spokesman said they would support any changes O’Malley would make.
