Residents of First Harford Square in Edgewood aren?t waiting for Harford County police and government officials to step up the fight against crime. Instead, community leaders have hired a private security company to patrol the neighborhood.
During the group?s June meeting, the leaders of the First Harford Square Homeowners Association voted unanimously to hire a private security company, according to the neighborhood?s operations manager. For about a month now, two armed security officers with Evergreen Security Inc. have been patrolling the community?s streets.
“We?re having to do this because our government has told us it can?t protect us,” said Mark Franz, a resident of the townhouse development and its operations manager. He is also a Democratic candidate for the District 34A seat in the Maryland House of Delegates.
Franz specifically referred to a meeting of the homeowners association in November of 2004 when Captain Teresa Walters, then the commander of the Harford County Sheriff?s Office southern precinct, told the group that police could not protect the neighborhood 24/7. Walters is now the chief of police for Havre de Grace.
“The Harford County Sheriff?s Office is trying to do everything it can,” Franz said, but the community felt it needed to do more.
“Unfortunately, the county can?t take care of us, and we?re a community of 600 homes, each paying about $1,000 a year in property tax,” said First Harford Square resident Mike Neuman. Neuman also sits on the community?s board of directors and is running for the County Council District A seat as a Democrat. “We?re at the point now where many in our neighborhood feel they are prisoners in their own homes.”
Neuman described a situation where he was walking his dog one day, and he was accosted by a drunk man for, as Neuman claims, looking at the man. Neuman said there was a deputy a block down the street during this encounter, but when Neuman asked the deputy why he did not intervene, the deputy claimed he couldn?t. Neuman said the deputy advised him to go inside and lock his door. “Doesn?t that sound a little screwy to you,” Neuman said.
“Any suggestion that crime is out of control in that community is erroneous,” said Harford County Sheriff?s Office spokesman Bob Thomas. Thomas said deputies patrol the community regularly.
Because First Harford Square is considered a private community, Franz said Evergreen Security officers have the authority to stop anyone in the neighborhood. If an Evergreen officer encounters someone who does not live in the community, that person is asked to leave. Neuman said Evergreen officers do not have the power to arrest, but they do have the power to detain a person until a police officer arrives.
Evergreen officers are off-duty police officers, Franz said, and they are licensed to carry handguns.
“We?re mainly providing foot patrols in the community in an effort to deter crime,” said Robert Osborne, spokesman for Evergreen Security.
The private security officers patrol the Edgewood neighborhood ? off of Hansen Road ? three nights a week from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. The First Harford Square homeowners association pays Evergreen Security officers about $20 and hour, according to Franz.
“We have seen a decrease in interlopers in Harford Square,” Franz said adding that incidents of vandalism have gone down since Evergreen has been on duty. He said he did not have statistics but has noticed that he?s been sweeping away less broken glass.
