Ridgely Discusses Caroline County Sheriff’s Office MOU

RIDGELY – The Town of Ridgely held its monthly Commissioner’s meeting on Monday, January 5, with an update on the Town’s Memorandum of Understanding with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office on the agenda. After a discussion meant to provide clarity and transparency about the MOU, uncertainties remained.

After the disbandment of the Ridgely Police Department, the Town entered into an MOU with the Sheriff’s Office for police coverage. Commission President Brad Sears said during the January 5 meeting that the language in the MOU states that Ridgely should be receiving coverage from three total officers – specifically one Sergeant and two Deputies. However, the Town has not been overseen by a Sergeant for several months and instead has operated with a Corporal and two Deputies. Sears asked the Commission if they’d like to continue with having a Corporal, considering it saves the Town money when comparing a Corporal’s salary to that of a Sergeant.

While Commissioner John Hurley said he is happy with this arrangement and the policing that Ridgely is receiving, Commissioner Chad Leister questioned if the switch from a Sergeant to a Corporal was a money-saving move by the Town, or if the CCSO had a staffing issue which caused them to not send in a Sergeant. Commissioner Sears said that it was a matter of the budget, and having a Corporal “has been an ongoing savings.”

Commissioner Leister then asked the CCSO representative present at the meeting, Lieutenant George Paugh, what the differences are between a Sergeant and Corporal. Paugh answered that the two ranks “have the same basic training” and are equally trained to oversee Ridgely’s other two deputies.

Commissioner Sears said that if the Commission chooses to keep the current arrangement, the MOU can be re-worked with the Town Attorney to reflect the change.

Commissioner Leister asked, “Does it matter? I mean, we're not getting a Sergeant now as the MOU requests. So why are we bringing this up? Just to make it official, or to rule out the possibility of getting a Sergeant?” Commissioner Sears replied that he saw fit to “make it official”, but the absence of a Sergeant “gets into a personnel issue” in the CCSO. Lieutenant Paugh said he was not in a position to address Commissioner Leister’s question. “The way the Sheriff explained it to me, was that if you wanted a Sergeant, he’d put a Sergeant in,” said Commissioner Sears, “it was not, as I understand it, a staffing issue from the Sheriff's Department’s position. It’s more a budgetary question.”

Commissioner Leister re-phrased his line of questioning, asking if the MOU was already not being adhered to, “What brought this up?” Commissioner Hurley said pointedly, “It's transparency, because everybody wants transparency.”

“Given that the situation is stable and we've been working very well with the Corporal and two Deputies, let's keep that arrangement for the time being,” Commissioner Sears said, stating, “We can make a formal decision” when it is time to officially revisit the MOU later this year.

Later during public comment, Ridgely resident Robin Martin suggested that a citizen be invited to be a part of discussions about the Sheriff's Office MOU and the future of Ridgely’s policing. “You know, just the discussion tonight…It doesn't necessarily instill 100% confidence that we're getting everything that we were supposed to be getting in that MOU.”

Another resident, Anna Mansfield, directly questioned town officials as to whether the Town went to the Sheriff and requested a Corporal rather than a Sergeant to save funds, “We didn't go to him and ask for a reduced budget… correct? None of us went to him and asked for a reduction due to budget constraints with this MOU coverage currently, correct?” Commissioner Sears replied, “No, that was initiated by the Sheriff's Department.”

Mansfield also said she was “disappointed” that the Commissioners did not immediately know the names of the officers currently assigned to the Town. Her point was that since the departure of Officer Toby Hafer to Denton Police Department, the townspeople are not confident that they know their police officers. “Community policing was the big issue,” Mansfield said, “We wanted to know who our officers were. We wanted relationships with them and consistency with them. But we also want accountability that you guys know who is here and what's going on.”

Residents expressed on social media after the meeting that they felt there was a lack of clear answers concerning the discrepancies between the MOU and its implementation.