Harford County Sheriff R. Thomas is looking to bolster his ranks by 20 deputies in the next fiscal year, but it was the deployment of those deputies that raised concerns for one Edgewood resident.
“Will we see more deputies?” Deb Merlock, of the Greater Edgewood Education Foundation, asked after County Executive David Craig announced his commitment to fund $51 million to the sheriff?s office for 20 new deputies, 11 correctional officer and nine civilian support positions.
Merlock was one of only a few Edgewood residents who turned out for the announcement in front of the sheriff?s office southern precinct in Edgewood Thursday morning.
Merlock specifically wished to know if Edgewood ? an area of Harford known for its criminal element ? would see more deputies as a result of the funding.
Stepping forward, Golding proceeded to field Merlock?s question by discussing “sectors” and “scheduling,” but when he had finished, Merlock seemed more confused. At the end of the press conference, an area resident brought it to Merlock?s attention that the sector Golding was referring to ? Sector 20 ? was a patrol area that encompassed more of southern Bel Air and Abingdon, than Edgewood.
Golding answered Merlock?s question by saying, “yes,” but some of the deputies would be deployed in southern Edgewood ? Sector 20.
Merlock admitted later that she still felt she did not get the answer she was looking for, but lamented, “I didn?t ask the right question. I should have asked how many more officers do we need to hire in order for it to benefit Edgewood.”
Golding?s spokesman Robert Thomas took a swing at the question Friday.
“We?re providing service to Edgewood, and we?re not going to curtail that service,” Thomas said. He admitted that it was Golding?s plan to assign additional deputies to Sector 20 after the new hires are brought on board, but he said, “He [Golding] has general plans regarding the distribution [of new deputies], but not specific.” The reason for this, Thomas said, was because it would take time for the new deputies to be hired and trained.
In the end though, the answer to Merlock?s question, as fielded by Thomas, may not have been to her liking.
“We can not allocate all of our resources to Edgewood,” Thomas said.
