From Harford County Sheriff L. Jesse Bane:
The ratio of deputies the Harford County Sheriff has per 1,000 population to police Harford County is .8! This is the statement I have quoted at town hall meetings and in public forums. My numbers do not include the number of officers in the towns of Bel Air, Aberdeen, and Havre de Grace since these officers do not police Harford County. Except for his assumption that all my personnel are assigned to policing Harford County, Mr. Gahler’s figures are correct. But they do not reflect the numbers for the Sheriff’s Office. My ratio is also based on the numbers for 2012, not the numbers he cites for 2010.
To the average citizen, what we are talking about may still be very confusing. To Mr. Gahler, I extend the invitation to him to sit down with me to look at the numbers, and then we both can report the same figures to those who are interested. After all, it is not the intent of either of us to allow the public to remain confused.
The average really doesn’t care what the ratio is. All he or she wants to know is, “Am I safe? And, if so, how safe am I?” Since we only have the numbers from “Crime in Maryland” (the reference Mr. Gahler cites) for 2010, let’s break it down. But before we do, let’s repeat what the Governor’s Office on Crime Control and Prevention has to say about crime in Harford County for 2010.
After a successful year of crime reductions in 2009, Harford County achieved slight reductions in crime in 2010. The county achieved reductions in total crime (-1.3 percent), violent crime (-3.5 percent) and property crime (-0.09 percent). Harford County’s total crime rate (2,173.8) and propery crime rate (1,827.5) are the lowest ever reported since the Maryland UCR program was adopted in 1975.
In 1975, the crime rate (number of crimes per 100,000 population in Harford County was 4,336.0. In 2010, the crime rate was 2,173.8. That is more than a 50 percent reduction!
How powerful is that?
Let’s break this down even further. Of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions (23 counties and Baltimore City), Harford County had the fifth lowest crime rate in Maryland in 2010. We were bested by Carroll, Garrett, Frederick, and Kent counties.
How did our neighbors fare? Baltimore City finished last. Baltimore County ranked 17th and Cecil County ranked 20th.
These are rather impressive numbers. And I credit the hard work of the men and women of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland State Police, and the municipalities of Bel Air, Aberdeen, and Havre de Grace. Kudos to them for a job well done.
In conclusion, I do hope Mr. Gahler takes me up on my offer. Since he is running for Sheriff, he should get to know the agency a little better. If we both walk away knowing the actual numbers, we will be better able to debate the real issues and tell the public about our game plan for protecting the citizens of Harford County when the campaign is in full swing in 2014.
L. Jesse Bane
Sheriff of Harford County
Kudos to everyone in law enforcement except for the 2 sergeants you spitefully refused to promote to lieutenant even though they were the most qualified, the deputy who needs to work day shift to be home to help raise his daughters who you transferred to evening shift and the breast cancer survivor you banished to midnights. Kudos to you for your heartlessness.
The Detention Center is severly under staffed ! The 40 million dollar expansion is completed and there is no staff available to work in it! Bane says his buddy Craig won’t fund staff for the jail but Craig says Bane never requests emergency funds to staff the facility! What are they going to tell the officers families when one of them is killed working short staff! Now they have the CO positions posted for an eligibility list and it will take 6 months and 10’s of thousands of dollars in overtime to process 6 new officers when the facility needs 50 what a sad bs story!!
So now the Sheriff wants the man who lost the election to come in and explain to him how to effectively run the office of sheriff!
Mr. Bane, if you are up to the job as Sheriff of Harford County, then you go out and defend your numbers and your statements. But, good lord, when you do, don’t ramble on in nonsensical speech like you did in your interview that was posted on the Daggar Press.
I love how he talks down to the “average”
I guess I’m not average, as I care how many police officers we have, and how our tax dollars are spent. Not sure which side of average the Sheriff thinks that puts me. He probably thinks I’m below average for caring or questioning how effectively/efficiently the HCSO is operating, and if the employees are being treated fairly!
Jesse creates these types of controversies. This is because he fails to understand the basic concepts of leadership. There is more to this story than just numbers. There are dynamics that contribute to crime stats. Like the state of the economy for example. Implementing more programs to help families in need, activities and interventions for juveniles, will help keep delinquents from emerging. The millions of dollars Jesse wants to hire more road officers can be better spent. If Bane would use his current staff efficiently we would see more deputies on the street.
Where are Banes priorities? We need to staff the new detention facility. It was built to keep the offenders off the street. Putting our Correctional Officers at risk is not at all acceptable.
maybe if he stopped creating units that drain manpower from main units, he wouldn’t feel so undermanned.
Hope everyone doesn’t think Mr. Bane is releasing this statement to improve his image as Sheriff. It’s to improve his image as a candidate for County Executive in 2014.
Either way I’m thrilled that Jeff Gahler will be our Sheriff in 2014!
Be careful what you post rumor has it Jesse has this site in his pocket and has everyone that comments here e mail address for his enemies list very similar to the joker in AA county???
All you have to do it put a bogus email down if your really scared
Fortunately, All Knowing does not live up to his name in this instance.
Neither the Sheriff, nor anyone else, can lift personal identifiable information from users of this site. And we won’t hand it over unless compelled to by specific ruling of a judge.
The Dagger has written nearly a story a day during the past week scrutinizing the actions of the Sheriff and his Office. So which pocket are we in?
While I don’t believe that the Dagger feeds personally identifiable information voluntarily, it is not at all true to say that NO ONE can get this info… A not so advanced hacker can exploit the traffic to and from the site and thanks to the Patriot Act it can be obtained from the ISP while issuing a gag order at the same time that keeps the ISP from being able to say ANYTHING. There are ways around this thought an onion skin approach but even that is fallible. The law enforcement crowd should be aware of this but all the retired folks here with their sour grapes may be a little old school for it. I think that 2 Lieutenants and their buddies are way below the radar on this one. Type what you like, unless you slander someone you’re somewhat safe -but it’s a pretty good rule of thumb to say that anything digital is probably traceable by someone & it’s not impossibe to figure out who you are. To think otherwise is like thinking that you can’t work that whole thumbs up thumbs down thing and it’s really obvious you guys have figured out that one 🙂
Brian, Hope this doesn’t make me seem like any less of a fan of the Dagger. Thanks for your service.
Thanks hacker boy. And just who is going to go to the lengths that you describe? Who even understands what you just described? Posters, don’t let his big words and computer jargon fool you, keep posting your thoughts and opinions, this is America and we do have certain rights. Anyway, if Jesse Bane ever found out, you’re just using your creative expression which we all know is condoned by him.
No problem old fart. I was simply trying to give you the heads up but your seem to be in some depressive delusion where everyone is out to get you.
YOU may not understand it, but the Dagger does -or I suspect Brian would have appropriately corrected me by now. You rights do not include the ability to slander someone (even a public figure) with impunity.
Tell you what, if you’re such an authority on this than keep it up, and one of you boneheads will write something slanderous sooner or later. Let’s see if a judge compels Dagger Press LLC. to give up your IP address and you’re dragged into court. Still feeling cocky? Ask Brian about the case in HdG. You may be needing a “lawyer boy” real soon. Good luck with that.
If anyone thinks Bane is in tight with the Dagger they are wrong. I do know that there is a meeting a week at the Sheriff’s Office and the Dagger takes up about 30 to 40 minutes of that meeting. I know the computer support staff is monitoring computers to see if anyone logs onto the Dagger from an agency computer. Bane can’t plug the leaks fast enough he has in his department right now. This concerns him a lot. Im I right Jesse or am I right? You do have that bird cage liner paper in your back pocket in Bel Air. Kennedy will not print anything negative about you so you are okay with them. You can have your people post on here that no one reads the Dagger but I think you would be surprised the people who are reading this and not posting comments. Your heartless actions have taken its toll on your people you are elected to take care off. The year is 2012 and you can not treat people like you do and get away with it anymore. Call me we can talk. We both no you don’t have the courage to call me! I have many questions for you.
Maybe we can provide him with a basic course on leadership and math. I will start. Jesse…2+2 does not equal 5…Trust is earned, you are there to motivate, not de-motivate. 2+2=4…really.
Trust me, Bane hates the Dagger, I have that on good authority. He will get nothing from them. Someone else does his research and writes the letter and it is submitted. I hope you were not writing that to discourage members of the Sheriff’s Office who would want to post on here?
RIP Jesse, who’s going to be the first one to get pissed off and start shooting, who’s going to be the quickest to get up
This is amazing! You all seem to carry such discontentment for Sheriff Bane. After reading and researching your detention center; I’d go with Mr. Gahler. He appears to be doing his homework in depicting the problem areas and creating public awareness. He’s called Sheriff Bane out on several of those issues and shown us very clearly what his view points are.
Mr. Sheriff Bane seems to hide from the facts: extremely low staff morale, being so understaffed at his detention center (causing tremendous burn out and concerns for safety), INMATE DEATHS on his watch. Just what is he doing to prevent future deaths? Don’t we all want to know that he is exerting some of his attention and power in that area?
He claims to be a man of dignity and honor — not much dignity and honor in the loss of human life! The “No Warden” at HCDC has become such a tremendous problem -yet- the consequences for not having a warden are weighing heavily on the staff and inmates and their families. Does that sound like honor and dignity? Since when does poor decision making outweigh the “dignity of human life”?
Wake up citizens! Have we become so complacent with the “Powers that Be”, that we will no longer question what is right and what it wrong? If we have a problem in our home, something that just isn’t right — WE FIX IT. If you pay someone to fix the problem for you, then you expect them to get it right. Well, there are problems in your community at the HCDC. Are you paying someone who is avoiding accountability? who is not exemplifying the highest motivation to stop the deaths under his watch? who has lost the respect and admiration of so many on his team? a man who is fighting to spend money that is not available to open and run the new addition -yet- is showing inadequate regard for staffing the existing detention center?
These are important questions that must be asked and answered honestly. If you have knowledge and you’re afraid to speak out — post is anonymously; a least it will draw attention to clarify. A problem can not be fixed if no one knows there’s a problem. Be a part of “fixing” it.