A debate over the safety of a Baltimore County police canine facility has cost County Executive Jim Smith the endorsement of the police labor union, officials said Tuesday.
After endorsing Smith in his 2002 election bid, county Fraternal Order of Police President Cole Weston said the organization will endorse neither Smith nor his Republican opponent, Clarence Bell. Weston cited a dispute over the safety of the Southwest Area Park, the home of a canine training facility closed in September after two dogs died and employees complained of health problems.
The facility is close to a former landfill, and FOP leaders have squabbled with county officials over reports declaring it safe.
“We?ve had difficulty having access to the executive to talk about issues that are important to us,” Weston said. “It would certainly be confusing to our membership if we went out and endorsed someone we can?t have an open dialogue with.”
Four dogs have died recently of cancer, according to the union, which commissioned a group of Johns Hopkins researchers to do their own study after a county-contracted report declared the site safe. The Hopkins report indicated a presence of methane inside the canine facility and questioned previous soil quality risks ? conclusions the county, in turn, denounced as fiction.
The county maintains only two dogs died of cancer, and types not attributable to the environmental conditions at the facility, according to a letter county administrative officer Anthony Marchione wrote to Weston in August.
The canine facility is at least 1,000 feet from the former landfill, they said.
Smith asked police chief Terrence Sheridan to recommend moving the police dog?s back to the park, located in the Baltimore Highlands area, or closing the facility permanently. Police spokesman Bill Toohey said Tuesday that Sheridan is still deciding.
