An alarming trend of rapidly increasing violent crimes compared with low police staffing has the Carroll County sheriff requesting computer systems in cruisers, so all seven police forces can track crime together.
“In the short term, additional coordination through combined police communications and patrol sharing” is the solution, said Lt. Phil Kasten, spokesman for the sheriff?s office. “The public would see real-time results very quickly.”
A $1.2 million upgrade requested in this year?s budget ? with 127 laptops for Taneytown, Westminster, Sykesville and sheriff?s office cruisers ? would allow collaboration that could quickly help overcome the state?s second-lowest police-to-population ratio, Kasten said.
Now, each department tracks a fraction of total crime separately, some using a primitive system of paper maps and push-pins. If departments don?t track crime together, a small increase in staffing spreads thin, minimizing officers? work, Kasten said.
“I think there is a countywide perception about the level of police staffing as well as the volume of policeworkload,” he added. “While Carroll County is known for a high quality of life, as the population has increased, so has the demand for police service, both crime- and non-crime-related.”
Violent crimes in the county increased about 110 percent, from 178 in 1994 to 374 last year, while the total number of officers went up only 23 percent, from 168 to 206, according to state police reports.
The number of sheriff?s deputies rose more than 50 percent, from 39 to more than 60, but that?s offset by the relocation of about 30 state troopers out of Carroll, Sheriff Ken Tregoning said.
“We might have gone down, but look at what we?re doing,” state police Detective Sgt. Chuck Moore said.
However, he was concerned with the growing divide between violent crime and staffing. The best way to attack the problem is through strategy, crime monitoring and appropriate police placement, he said.
Moore emphasized that violent crimes dropped 4 percent in the previous two years, and Carroll still ranks second-best in total crime rate.
Police officers per 1,000 residents
» Carroll County: 1.6
» National average: 2.3
» Northeast regional average: 2.7
Source: Maryland State Police
