A latecomer to the race for Harford County sheriff, filing to run on the last possible day, Bel Air resident Marlin Mills says he has the experience to turn around a county law enforcement agency that is lacking in leadership and morale.
A 30-year veteran of the Harford County Sheriff?s Office, Mills, 57, retired as a captain about 10 years ago. He said he decided to try to come back as sheriff after several deputies approached him.
“They were not happy with the possibility of a state trooper running the department, nor were they happy with the other side running the department,” Mills, a Republican, said of Democratic candidate Jesse Bane.
Mills said he believes the three candidates with Maryland State Police backgrounds do not have the knowledge necessary to run the Sheriff?s Office because they are not familiar with the nuances of the agency.
“Being an outsider,” responded Detective Sgt. Joe Price of the Maryland State Police. “I can go in there with an unbiased opinion, and I think that is what?s needed.”
Like Mills, Price is also running as a Republican.
Bane retired from the Sheriff?s Office as a major just before announcing his candidacy. But Mills faults him for not stepping up to stop problems under the administration of the previous and current sheriffs, Joseph P. Meadow and R. Thomas Golding.
“How would he know if he wasn?t with the agency to see what I did?” Bane countered, adding that he did take a stand against improper activity at the Sheriff?s Office, and it was this stand that led him to retire and run for office.
“If I?m part of the crew, why has Golding backed another candidate?” Bane asked.
Golding, through a spokesman for the Sheriff?s Office, denied that he was backing a particular candidate and said he would support whoever won the Republican primary.
Like most of the other seven candidates seeking the office, Mills said gang activity and related crime is of primary concern to him.
