At last, Carroll residents had their chance to tell commissioners what they thought of creating a countywide police force: Don?t.
Nearly 100 residents packed the first public hearing on policing, blasting commissioners for not having faith in the public to elect a capable head of police.
“You people need to go by the wayside because I think you?re incompetent,” Westminster resident Gary Johnson told the commissioners. “All you try and do is force your will upon the people.”
Commissioner Dean Minnich has defended his vote to create a county police force with an appointed chief because he said a sheriff would be consumed with getting elected if made the county?s top cop.
The commissioners did not hold a public hearing before voting to create the force in October, and the county?s state delegation is considering overriding the move by letting voters decide the matter in a referendum.
Donald Hoffman, an Eldersburg resident, questioned how Minnich became a commissioner if elections are a popularity contest, as the commissioner has contended.
“To say that electing a sheriff is a popularity contest equivalent to ?American Idol,? then how did you get your job?” he asked Minnich.
“I?m perplexed, to be quite honest with you,” added Philip Merson, a Westminster resident and a former state trooper who was stationed in Carroll. “How did you ramrod this thing through? It?s unbelievable.”
Merson urged commissioners to rethink and reverse their decision, saying the sheriff?s office is qualified to expand into the county?s top police agency.
Sheriffs? offices are the primary agency in 17 of Maryland?s 23 counties, but four of five Baltimore metropolitan counties employ a county force with an appointed chief.
Only one resident at the 90-minute hearing stood up for commissioners.
Carol Brown, a Sykesville resident whom commissioners appointed to a zoning board, said commissioners should be trusted to appoint a chief and consolidate into a county force some sheriff?s deputies and state troopers who are contracted to patrol the county.
“What?s going on here comes to a matter of trust and credibility,” said Wayne Hollenbaugh, a Sykesville resident. “I don?t really believe you have true information on the decision you?ve made.”
