Published: October 23, 2008 09:24 am      

Law enforcement in Allegany may see more changes

Sheriff might have applied for FSU job; bureau could take over at jail

CUMBERLAND — There have been several changes to the way law enforcement is approached in Allegany County since July.

The county’s move to transfer road patrol responsibilities from Sheriff David Goad to the Bureau of Police may be just the beginning. Goad could be on his way out of the position — a county official said he’s applied for the position of chief of police at Frostburg State University — and the detention center will likely, at some point, operate under the county’s Department of Public Safety, Homeland Security and Bureau of Police.

County Administrator Vance Ishler said it’s not a power-grab between the county and Goad. Instead, it’s positioning the county to best serve the public for whomever is sheriff. He said it’s “totally dysfunctional ... to have an elected sheriff in charge of a police department.”

Reached late Wednesday, Goad didn’t say whether he’d applied for the position or not. He said he had talked with some “people who are a part of the university” about the position but declined to offer specifics. The application deadline for the position, which has a starting salary range in the upper 60s to lower 70s, was Oct. 6. Goad currently earns less than $60,000. A university selection committee currently is reviewing applications and narrowing the list to a few to be interviewed. The timeline for such a process was not available.

Goad didn’t seem too worried about the commissioners taking over the jail, which must be done by referendum with support of county voters.

“I don’t see the public turning over the jail to the county commissioners,” Goad said. “They’re having trouble running the Bureau of Police, so how are they going to run a jail?”

Goad said first it was the road patrol, then, last week, the commissioners diverted grants applied for by the sheriff’s office to the bureau. Commissioner Jim Stakem said after the Oct. 16 public meeting that the three grants, totaling $72,506, were applied for by the bureau.

“That’s an absolute lie,” Goad said, calling the current developments “kindergarten, sandbox tactics.”

After thinking about the situation for a moment, Goad said, “maybe I should apply for a county commissioner’s job.”

Goad said the county told the Allegany County Health Department, which disbursed the grants, that the sheriff’s office was no longer eligible to receive the grants because it was not a full-service police agency.

“How do I deal with a county government that continues to provide false information,” Goad asked.

The road patrol was taken away largely because Goad, elected to the position in 1994, has averaged $125,000 budget excesses in each of the last eight years. During the budget process this past spring, Goad refused to comply with the county commissioners’ take-home vehicle policy that restricted county-owned vehicles, including patrol cars, from operating on or off duty beyond Allegany County.

A month earlier, Goad had implemented his own cost-savings policy. Instead of limiting a vehicle by border, he proposed a mileage restriction. That allowed officers living in the nearby West Virginia communities of Ridgeley or Wiley Ford to take their vehicles home and respond in a timely manner to Allegany County emergencies. The commissioners rejected the plan.

Ishler said the reason the detention center wasn’t taken at the same time as the road patrol was because the county “only can bite off so much at a time.” But the center, like the road patrol, is “also a concern,” Ishler said.

Changes are expected within the bureau as well. County officials said recently that Deputy Chief Bobby Dick is, at some point, to be installed as bureau chief. In a recent interview, Dick said he knew nothing about that possibility.

“No county official has told me that,” Dick said. “Nobody has talked to me about it in any way, shape or form. From what I hear ... (Director) Gary (Moore) doesn’t have any intention of doing anything else or going anywhere else.”

One county official has said it’s expected Moore will relinquish only the title of chief of police and stay as the top man in the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security.

Dick said it’s unlikely changes to the operation of the detention center would happen anytime soon.

“I think (the commissioners) have taken such a beating, I don’t think they’d touch this with a 10-foot pole at this point,” Dick said.

Dick called Lee Cutter, administrator of the detention center, “a real professional” who “does a great job.”

Dick was hired to supervise the Allegany County Joint Communications Center. Soon afterward, the county resumed responsibility of overseeing the Allegheny Highlands Trail — a duty formerly carried out by a sheriff’s deputy.

“When we got the Highlands Trail, that’s when the Bureau of Police came about so we would have enforcement powers on the trail,” Dick said of the commissioners’ June 2007 code home rule bill, which created the Bureau of Police. “All of a sudden, I’m a police officer again. When this occurred, there wasn’t any real discussion ... just, here it is.”

A year later — less than three months ago — the county took over the road patrol. Again, Dick said he was a bit surprised.

“I don’t think anybody ever specifically asked me,” to take the bureau’s No. 2 job, Dick said.

The bureau has gotten off to a somewhat rocky start. Some pay periods have seen overtime expenses skyrocket — but the overall projection is under the approved budget amount the commissioners set in May. That’s with the knowledge the Bureau of Police officers are not performing the full range of duties the sheriff’s deputies once did.

The bureau has incurred certain start-up costs that Ishler recently brushed aside. He said expenses for the bureau were, in part, Goad’s fault.

“He has not complied with the legal order of what was to be distributed,” Ishler said of the August district court settlement. “He’s got the five newest cars. He’s got radar detectors, computers, Tasers ... and no manpower to use it.”

Another bureau issue is the certification of Officer Shannon Robison, who was recently cleared of criminal misconduct in court. But Goad, Ishler said, has not disposed of the charges and updated Robison’s status with the Maryland Police Training Commission. Robison can’t be certified until that happens. For the time being, Robison has been transferred to the county’s office of emergency management. The county has hired a 15th officer, formerly with the Cumberland Police Department.

A court case to be heard in Washington County Oct. 31 was delayed after Goad’s attorneys filed an amended complaint with additional plaintiffs and witnesses. Goad said County Attorney Bill Rudd asked for a continuance. No new court date has been set.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.