After the murder of 20-year-old Kevin Rowlette in July, a public outcry for a greater police presence in Edgewood caused then-Harford County Sheriff R. Thomas Golding to temporarily assign seven additional deputies to patrol the community.
When Sheriff Jesse Bane took command of the agency earlier this month, he decided the needs of Edgewood are too important to allow the deputies to be reassigned elsewhere in the county ? as was planned for after the New Year.
“I didn?t want to tamper with success,” Bane recently said. “One of the reasons we are not getting the volume of calls [for violent crimes] down there is because the additional deputies are on patrol. The biggest part of it is visibility,” he said.
Bane said his decision to extend the tour of duty for the seven additional deputies in “Sector 10” ? the sheriff?s office?s designation for the Edgewood and Joppatowne areas of Harford ?was not only based on a reduction in violent crime, but a factor in his overall initiative to combat gangs in southern Harford.
Bane refused to state how his gang initiative would take shape for fear gangs would be able to counter the agency?s efforts.
As to the need for a bolstered police presence in southern Harford, sheriff?s office spokesman Lt. Jim Eyler said that because the Edgewood and Joppatowne areas are among the most populated in the county, Sector 10 has accounted for about 25 percent of all of the agency?s calls for service each year for the past five.
“Because it is densely populated, it makes sense that we are going to see more calls for service come out of that sector,” he said.
“It was getting pretty violent here, but with seven more deputies, it?s been quiet,” said Sam Gibson, the chairman of the Edgewood Community Council?s Safe and Secure Neighborhoods committee.
“We haven?t had any major incidents and that?s not to say we won?t, but it seems like Edgewood is breathing again. [Bane?s decision] was the best Christmas present Edgewood could have.”
