They left their positions in Maryland law enforcement agencies five months ago.
They headed for America?s most famous and notorious overseas prison camp. And they landed in the same office.
Three Maryland law enforcement officers are now stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ? literally cubicles away from each other.
“We laughed about it,” said Capt. Rick Boggs, 40, of the Charles County Sheriff?s Office.
“We all have the usual bond of being soldiers, but we have that other bond of being police officers, too.”
Boggs is stationed in a small Guantanamo Bay operations office with Baltimore City Police Officer Kirk Black, 33, and Howard County Police Cpl. Eric Brown, 41.
The trio are among nearly 50 local law enforcement officers stationed abroad because of America?s wars. Twenty-five of those officers are from the Baltimore City police force, while 15 are Baltimore County police officers.
Some local officials saythey worry about staffing levels for Baltimore-area police if either the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts escalate further.
The three officers aren?t the only members of local law enforcement stationed in the U.S. naval base.
The men say the lessons learned in their local jurisdictions have carried over to the Guantanamo Bay prison, which houses men that the U.S. government calls some of the worst terrorists in the world.
But keeping watch over these men isn?t necessarily tougher than walking the streets of Baltimore, Black said.
“They?re two different monsters,” he said. “In Baltimore, we?re working on catching them. Down here, we?ve got them. We?re just trying to keep them from breaking out.”
Maj. Eric Brown, of the Howard County police, said the two jobs complement each other.
“I think it?s been useful that in this position, we can trade off training we learned as police and use it here,” he said.
“You learn to be careful, how important officer safety is, and to use firearms.”
Boggs echoed that sentiment.
“The biggest thing about both jobs is discipline,” he said.
“Law enforcement-wise, we have suggestions on how to improve things here ? how we might investigate something, how to handle certain situations and offer suggestions. My police skills definitely complement my military work.”
