The most vocal ones shout and hurl insults at Carroll commissioners and rant about being deprived of their democratic right to be heard. They say the commissioners voted, without public hearings, to dump the sheriff?s office and start a countywide police force, against the wishes of just about everybody in Carroll.
But others, in e-mails and letters, say they favor the proposed police force.
“Many county residents have been hesitant to voice their support of a county police force, or show up at any forum to discuss this issue, because of the ever-present and overbearing presence of the sheriff and his ?flock? at such events,” Jeff Alexander, a Carroll resident and former state trooper, wrote in an e-mail to county officials.
Commissioner Dean Minnich, who has been roundly criticized for his vote for the county department, said many have privately pleaded with him to stand firm.
“It is not our responsibility to listen only to the most vocal,” Minnich said.
Minnich joined Commissioner Julia Gouge on Thursday in calling on Gov. Martin O?Malley to block a referendum that would allow voters to decide whether to create a county police force.
The move came after the delegation decided last week to introduce a measure that put the matter to voters.
Some residents have asked delegation members to abandon the measure.
“You legislators make the laws, but our commissioners are the public officials that manage Carroll County and I do not believe that they should be micro-managed,” resident Romeo Valianti wrote in an e-mail to Sen. Larry Haines, R-District 5, the chair of the delegation.
In another e-mail to Haines, resident Lisa Collier wrote: “Let?s not make this a popularity contest. Let?s do what?s best for the county,” in an e-mail to Haines.
“Sometimes it?s the people who scream the loudest ? and not the majority ? who get what they want.”
Commissioners? unanimous vote in October to create a county police department would scale back the sheriff?s office and abolish the Resident Trooper Program, in which the county contracts state troopers to patrol.
