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| George Wenschhof |
George Wenschhof
After
one term of charter government, an appointed charter review committee is
considering recommendations to submit to the Frederick County Council for their
review and consideration. The council
will decide what and if any changes will move forward as a referendum to voters
on the 2022 election year ballot.
Frederick
County Council president M.C. Keegan-Ayer has said in addition to the charter
review committee, the council will be appointing a committee to review county
elected official salaries and another to review county district boundaries.
A
review would also be well advised on whether to create a county police
department, an action taken by other large counties in the state.
Sheriff
departments across the country were established initially to collect taxes and
serve summons. Today, some have evolved
into full law enforcement agencies who also often serve as administrators of
correctional facilities.
The
sheriff often, as is the case in Frederick County, is an elected official with
the criteria for a candidate to appear on the ballot typically being meeting an
age requirement and a resident of the county.
The sheriff, being a “separate” elected official, is not answerable to
the county executive or council.
As
the county population and role of the sheriff department has grown, so has the
budget to pay provided law enforcement services. The funding for the sheriff department is
provided by the county executive and council, creating an interesting and
oftentimes frustrating situation where the county executive and council have no
authority over the sheriff. Further
convoluting the relationship between county government and sheriff department
is the county provides legal, human resources and other services to them.
The
move by larger counties in Maryland and across the country to establish a
county police force emanated from the desire to have the human resources
department develop criteria (education and experience) a candidate must meet to
be considered for hire as county police chief and to create a direct administrative
line of responsibility between the county executive and police chief. The county executive hires the county police
chief with consent of the county council. Often, a county police department is established
and a sheriff department remains that acts as the enforcement arm of the courts.
The
county council should consider either tasking the existing charter review
committee or creating another committee with reviewing the merits of a county
police department. This would be worthwhile for county voters; a public
discussion covering the pros and cons of establishing a county police
department.
