close
close

City, county and business leaders discuss crime in Hagerstown

play

On the ongoing issue of safety concerns in the city of Hagerstown, there was largely a cordial atmosphere among those attending a meeting called by Senator Paul Corderman on Monday – but there was some controversy over who had been invited and who had not.

And after the meeting, a district official who was not present continued to criticize the city government over its police department.

But on Monday, representatives from the health department, business, law enforcement, school systems, and city and county governments gathered around a table at the Fletcher branch of the Washington County Free Library to talk about safety in the city. Although not all of them were originally invited, all but one of the county commissioners and all but one of the Hagerstown City Council members attended.

No one at the meeting denied that there were problems, but several participants noted that people's assumptions sometimes differ from reality.

“So I think what we can do as an organization and as a group … is look at the image and the brand and talk about all the good things that are happening,” said Paul Frey, president and CEO of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. “Of course, not all of it gets out; it's more the bad things that get out.”

He said the chamber's approach was to be “solution-oriented rather than problem-oriented” and to focus on the future rather than the past.

Jim Kercheval, executive director of the Greater Hagerstown Committee, called for a uniform set of statistics that all groups could track before launching new programs.

“If we all had the same metrics and goals that we wanted to achieve, then when we made our own decisions in our own organizations, we could weigh them against those goals or statistics and say: are they going to help us or hurt us?”

Can officials unite to confront the violence? A wave of violence in Hagerstown has sparked disputes among local authorities. Can they reach an agreement?

All police authorities are hiring

Corderman hoped to hear from Sheriff Brian Albert and Lt. Brian Kloos of the Maryland State Police that they could provide more personnel to assist the overburdened Hagerstown Police Department, but he learned that the other two agencies were also overburdened.

Lt. Col. Daniel Pickett of the Maryland State Police told the group that police numbers have declined across the state, and Albert said his office already works regularly with Hagerstown police.

“Maybe in this room or in the public it seems like we don't work together,” Albert said, but “we work together on a lot of things that go unnoticed. Narcotics Task Force, the (training) academy, the special operations team.”

However, he said Corderman's proposal to create a “street crime unit” would “distract from something we usually do.”

Hagerstown Police Chief Paul Kifer noted that due to training requirements, it can take up to two years between a patrol officer being hired and being deployed on the road.

He also pointed out that many crimes had been prevented by unnoticed measures taken by local law enforcement authorities.

Afterwards, Corderman told The Herald-Mail he was “concerned” that the multi-agency deployment he had hoped for would not materialize. “I think we'll get a few extra patrols here and there,” he said, but acknowledged that other police agencies were also struggling with staffing problems.

He said there would be “a more concentrated effort to enable the use of additional resources in the city center, but it seems that the staffing issues are affecting everyone.”

Shootings, letters and questions: Shootings, letters and many questions: How can Hagerstown tackle the crime problem?

What about the Ministry of Health’s Harm Production Program?

Corderman also learned what the Washington County Health Department is doing with its harm reduction program.

“Just to be clear, the Harm Reduction Program is essentially an infectious disease program,” said Health Commissioner Earl Stoner. “Secondarily, it's about behavioral issues and getting people into treatment and things like that. But I think there's a misconception in society that, 'Why don't they get people into treatment?' The point is to prevent an HIV outbreak.”

Still, more than half of the participants in the program, which provides clean syringes, have been referred for treatment for their substance abuse disorder, Stoner said, noting that of the 579 total participants in the Harm Reduction Program this year, 371 were referred for treatment. Last year, he said, the number was 211.

And compared to the first half of last year, the county has seen a 59% decrease in overdose deaths, he said.

Vicki Sterling, director of the health department's behavioral health division, pointed out that these referral numbers only accounted for those referred by the Harm Reduction Program and not all people referred for treatment.

She also pointed out that the health department is helping with the disposal of discarded needles.

This year, Stoner said, the health department has distributed nearly 17,000 clean needles and collected nearly 20,000 used ones. The Harm Reduction Program is not a one-for-one exchange, he said.

“Our long-term strategy is, of course, primarily to have fewer people using,” he added. Participants will be educated about the options and warned not to throw away needles. The health department is also setting up a hotline that people can call if they see discarded needles.

Right now, anyone who sees them can call the Behavioral Health Division at 240-313-3310 and the health department will pick them up.

“To be honest, you’re doing a lot more than I thought,” Corderman said.

Hagerstown City Councilwoman Kristin Aleshire, who did not speak during the meeting, noted these developments afterward.

“We all spent an hour together so Paul could learn what the rest of us already know,” he told The Herald-Mail.

Chairman of the Commissioners, John Barr, reminded everyone that this is about the good of the community.

“Hopefully we do more of that and less of that through social media and the correspondence back and forth. We just need to talk to encourage the citizens of not only Hagerstown but Washington County because we are a good community,” he said.

Coming and going: Goodwill renovates space near downtown Hagerstown for grocery store

Further divisions after a cordial meeting?

The Hagerstown City Council is conducting a series of already scheduled meetings with many of the same people who attended Corderman's discussion on Monday. First up was the Health Department, which appeared at Tuesday's work session and reiterated what was said on Monday. Another meeting with law enforcement is scheduled for later this month.

However, not everyone was satisfied with the outcome of Corderman’s meeting.

For the second day in a row, Washington County Commissioner Derek Harvey used his time during Tuesday's commissioners meeting to criticize the city government for its police force, which he said

Harvey, who already had another commitment on Monday and did not attend Corderman's meeting but said he listened to a recording of it, again accused city officials of refusing to acknowledge a safety problem in the city, downsizing the police force and underpaying police officers.

“In my view … the attitude of city leaders is basically, 'There's nothing to see here'; it was a diversionary tactic,” Harvey said. “Not surprising; after all, what would you expect from elected city leaders, the city manager or the police chief? Would they admit that their collective decisions brought us to this point? That would be uncomfortable because it would mean they would have to do something.”

He also accused city leaders of ignoring crime rates. “I assume they don't look at the statistics or understand what the statistics reflect and what they don't,” he said. When asked after the meeting what statistics he cited and where he got them from, he said he was referring to 911 calls.

“I've only seen the last four or five years of 911 data, but that's not everything, because the calls go to HPD, and the state gets calls and people we know sometimes don't call because they're frustrated.”

When asked specifically what statistics he thinks city officials are ignoring, Harvey said, “What they have and the numbers indicate a real problem.” However, he did not cite any statistics other than emergency calls.

Martinez responded to Harvey's comments in real time on Facebook, inviting him to call her for a personal meeting and to invite her to the council meeting later Tuesday.

“I often say I'm not on Facebook to comment, but I did. And I wanted to respond to Commissioner Harvey in particular because it was controversial,” she said.

“And I think we all need to start doing that among ourselves. If you catch me frustrated in a public place, tell me that's divisive… We sometimes think we're the only ones who have the right answer for this community, and that creates more public safety problems than we can even imagine.

“Conflict comes at a cost, and at the end of the day, we're in Hagerstown, Washington County. We're just a few months away from the election. Nationally, the issue is very contentious, and every time I see local or regional politicians use national politics on social media to see each other, it doesn't make sense to me. And all I ask is that we all hold each other accountable in these constituencies.”

Tags:

You may also like...