On her second day of field training after graduation from the Harford County Sheriff’s Office academy, Christina Presberry got anything but a rookie call: a possible shooting and a barricade situation at the Perrywood Apartments in Aberdeen.
It didn’t end there. The intense—or sometimes just odd—situations kept on coming. After a few more years on the beat, the number of nutty incidents Presberry was involved in earned her a nickname.
“The ‘nut magnet,’” Presberry told members of the 18th class of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office Citizens Police Academy Tuesday night.
“If there was someone that wasn’t flying right, they’d find me–if they were within five miles of me, they’d find me,” she said. “They’d just walk up and say something and I’d be like, ‘I can’t let that go.’”
Presberry, now a major in charge of the agency’s Police Services Bureau, detailed the operations of the uniformed deputies who patrol the county, the community policing unit, the special operations units, and others.
Among the information shared with the class:
–The bureau consists of 188 deputies, including 62 deputies in the northern precinct, 80 deputies in the southern precinct, and 36 deputies in the special operations unit, as well as nine vacant deputy recruit positions for an incoming class, Presberry said. The number of officers on duty or available varies, she said, but in the southern precinct, roughly everything south of Route 1, a minimum of 10 deputies are on duty during the day, and a minimum of nine at night. In the northern precinct, a minimum of six deputies are on duty during the day and five at night.
–Following a string of recent burglaries in the county, Presberry urged the class to be aware of their surroundings while entering and leaving their homes, and to contact authorities if anything seemed out of order.
“When you get a feeling about something, go with that feeling, because I’ve learned it might save your life,” she said.
Also, Presberry said the bureau’s community policing unit offers free security checks of homes and commercial properties. Interested persons should contact Sgt. Kevin Thomas at 410-638-3713.
–The Sheriff’s Office does not have a standing SWAT team, but a group can be assembled in a “matter of minutes” if the necessary officers are working. The group is most often available from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., Presberry said, and can be in place within 45 minutes if the deputies are on duty, longer if not.
The time required to assemble the team led to a question of whether deputies are required to live within the county. They are not, Presberry said, but the agency’s take home car policy requires that those taking a vehicle home live within 26 miles of Bel Air. Presberry said she was unsure how the specific distance requirement had been determined.
–Senior citizens are a great resource for the agency, Presberry said, thanks to their keen observation of their communities. “They know everyone and everything going on in their neighborhood. They know,” she said. Unfortunately, she said the elderly are often less likely to call the police when they actually need help, “because they don’t want to bother anyone.”
–Recruits to the Sheriff’s Office tend to have the most trouble with some of the physical training, such as defensive tactics, said Presberry, as many are unused to aggressive physical contact.
She added that the type of recruit applying to the agency has changed since her first days as an instructor at the academy. She said the newer recruits were coming in with more issues, such as previous legal run-ins, and that some failed drug tests somewhat more often than their predecessors. While washout rates from the actual training remain comparable, Presberry said, more would-be recruits are being denied in the application process.
Next Week: A tour of the Harford County Courthouse and a look at the court services bureau.
Interesting comment about take home vehicles. Within 26 miles of Bel Air would include southern Pennsylvania. Are officers permitted to take an agency vehicle home if they live in PA?
Only within maryland. Miles are as the bird flies from 45 S Main St. Anyone out of state must leave the car in Maryland and drive a personal vehicle back home.
Bluedog34
Thanks. Any reason given for not permitting take home cars into PA if it is still within the 26 mile limit? Maybe the Sheriff thinks that it wouldn’t look right. Speaking of looking right, how would it look to have a HCSO patrol vehicle parked on the street in Baltimore City overnight on a regular basis, assuming that’s within the 26 mile limit?
Bluedog, if you plus in a 26 mile radius from Bel Air, if does reach parts in Baltimore City. Air miles, or “bird miles” are much, much longer than road miles.
Blue, I misread your comment, but they can’t judge the area of where the deputies reside. Therefore, if they live in bad areas, there is nothing that can be done. I’m sure they advise them to make sure their vehicle is secured and not leave any critial gear visible.
Brendon,
Have any take home cars been vandalized in Baltimore City while parked overnight on the street? Surly the Baltimore thugs wouldn’t vandalize a police car!!
Honestly I don’t know the answer to that, but I would assume yes. But as far as restricting where a police vehicle (off duty) is parked, I still don’t feel that they can control it. It’s not the military, it’s a civilian agency = more rights. But I’m not arguing against your point, I just feel if they restricted it, they would set themselves up for failure.
There was a case a few years back where a deputy who lived in the city had his vehicle vandalized. I’m thinking around 2008.
There have also been several cases of agency vehicles parked in front of deputies’ homes being vandalized in Harford County. What’s your point?
George,
I don’t think Tim had a point, I think he was answering my question. My point would be, if it is OK to take a HCSO vehicle home overnight and park it on the streets of Baltimore, what is the rational for not taking the vehicle home if you live in south PA. It is all within the 26 mile radius permitted by the HCSO. As you state, vehicles are vandalized even here in Harford County, right in front of your home, or even while parked at the precinct.
I missed your question somehow. That does make his comment sense.
The reason we can’t take our assigned vehicles home if we live in PA is because of jurisdiction. In PA we have none. In MD, but outside of Harford County, we have some limited jurisdiction. The only time we’re allowed to take agency vehicles out of MD is on official business (conducting investigations, approved training, possibly a pursuit if it crosses the border and isn’t cancelled…though most supervisors would probably cancel it at that point, etc.) When we’re operating our agency vehicles, even if off duty, we are required to respond or stop for certain incidents (like m/v crashes.) Once we leave the state there also can be some major problems with communications if we’re too far over the border and we have no way to communicate directly with the PSP or various township police in PA.
Another point that I would like to add is: (this does relate to the jurisdiction issue, but in a different light) when most civilians on the street see a police vehicle, they just see a police vehicle. If you don’t already know what my point is, if these civilians see a police vehicle (one from Harford County) in PA and there is a crime in progress, they see a police vehicle driving right by and not acting. This is an issue where I work, our jurisdiction literally ends at the curb, and behind the curb are a bunch of business. If something happens, we can’t act. But this is a whole different issue, I am not even going to get into it. Thanks for reading!
Oh, and at least one case of someone throwing a draino bomb on the prisoner wagon while it was parked at the precinct.
Why not drive your own car home? Y use state cars, could it be the gas prices? I can’t believe any law enforcement can waste our Taxpayers money driving company cars home and filling it up on us. Tell me WHY?????
There are several reasons:
1. take home vehicle programs consistently cost less then traditional “pool” programs like Baltimore County or Baltimore City. There is much less wear and tear, reducing maintenance costs. Take home vehicles, at the high end, will run for 8 hours a day and only during work days, so for patrol 4 days a week. Pool vehicles can, in theory, run 24 hours a day ad 7 days a week. Also, since the vehicle is assigned there is a much higher standard of care applied to the vehicles. They are regularly cleaned, maintained and cared for. The average take home vehicle lasts for years compared to pool vehicles.
2. The current policy states that use of the vehicles off-duty still obligates the deputy to respond to calls for service unless it would endanger passengers, i.e. family. It isn’t uncommon to hear off-duty deputies/troopers responding to calls when no one else is available. I’ve also heard deputies/troopers who were at home off-duty respond to officer in distress calls as they were the closest person to the call, and they either heard it on the radio or a dispatcher gave them the heads up.
3. There are more cars on the road, and increases presence in the county of marked cars. This leads to more eyes, more radios, and if needed more guns. The gas usage is constantly monitored and addressed. You’ll see few deputies use their cars off duty with their families, most use them off duty just in case.
Maintenance costs are significantly less and the vehicles last significantly longer (they aren’t running 24/7.) They’re better cared for in general than in agencies where no one takes cars home (cleanliness, minor repairs like replacing headlights, fixing a flat tire, etc.) Have you ever seen what some of the police cars look like in Baltimore County or Baltimore City? It’s not pretty…
Deputies also aren’t wasting their time sitting around the precinct waiting for the previous shift to bring vehicles back, unloading, and reloading the vehicles with all their equipment, etc. Most deputies live in the county so when they walk out their door and leave their house they’re ready to respond even if their shift hasn’t started yet (and frequently do.) There have been plenty of times I’ve left my house and started handling calls 15-30 minutes prior to my shift actually starting. When a major incident happens (shooting, robbery, home invasion, large fight, etc) around shift change instead of having 6 or 7 deputies able to respond (or less) there are at least twice as many available. That happens more often than you’d think it does.
Fuel costs are why there’s a limit on how far away from Bel Air you can live and bring your car home.
George and Randomposter1,
Given all of the positives you have listed, it is really puzzling why Baltimore County and Baltimore City have not adopted the same policy. So, in this regard, Sheriff Bane in a positive way, is ahead of other policing agencies?
Sheriff Bane can’t take credit for the take home car program. That program has been in existence for probably 20 years or better.
After a few more years on the beat, the number of nutty incidents Presberry was involved in earned her a nickname. “The ‘nut magnet,’”
The “nut magnet”. Not too smart for a Police Major to be making fun of people with mental health issues. Oh and did you forget where you came from “nut magnet”? I bet you were not treated like crap when you were “on the beat”.