From Jeffrey Gahler:
Sheriff Bane has proposed a meeting to discuss staffing figures. I must decline his offer, as I wholeheartedly believe that I am not the appropriate audience. The audience is each and every citizen of Harford County who deserves to be addressed, accurately and with respect. It is only fair as it is the citizens who fund the public safety efforts of the Sheriff’s Office and it is the citizens who deserve the whole story.
Sheriff Bane has already affirmed that the information I have brought forth was (and remains) completely accurate. In addition, I fully understand how Sheriff Bane is arriving at his staffing level statements and, as I have stressed, the statistics he has chosen to defend are grossly misleading. When used in any official police reference, the average number of officers per 1,000 population includes all sworn officers employed by all police departments serving a population, regardless of the assignment of those officers.
If we are willing to look closer at the average of .8 patrol deputies per 1,000 residents in the manner provided and preferred by Sheriff Bane, it would mean that what he is trying to say is there are roughly 197 sworn road deputies available to aid the county’s 247,000 residents (formula: (197/247,000)x1000 = 0.8) and that the other roughly 100 sworn members of the Sheriff Office do not count and the officers of the allied law enforcement agencies who serve portions of Harford County’s population also do not count. That is how you mathematically arrive at .8 officers per 1,000 residents. Now Sheriff Bane wants to take this personal calculation and greatly increase staffing levels that are still based on statements related to ratios and not actionable data. With initial statements related to a goal of 2.7 deputies per 1,000 residents, the Sheriff would have to add 470 more positions to the Patrol force, a 238% increase to the Sheriff’s Office staffing. Since this issue was brought to light, Sheriff Bane has toned down his staffing statements and most recently spoke of his desire to get to 1.5 deputies per 1,000 residents. In order to reach the 1.5 ratio, he would still be adding another 173 sworn positions, or 88% more patrol deputies.
To look at these staffing increases in the form of fiscal impact, based on salary figures obtained from the FY 2011 Harford County Budget for a Deputy First Class, Sheriff Bane is proposing that Harford County residents finance an additional $12,000,000 to $32,000,000 to the Sheriff’s Office’s budget each year. This conservatively estimated increased burden on the taxpayers does not take into consideration training, equipment, and vehicles, or the fact that many of the additional positions would need to be at supervisory and command ranks.
As stated previously, I am not debating whether additional personnel are needed. There may very well be a need for additional patrol personnel. The point is, Harford County residents and taxpayers deserve to have these needs articulated correctly and based on clearly relayed and factual data. Using staffing comments that leave a question of somewhere between 173 to 470 additional employees and a potential 50 % increase in the Sheriff’s Office Budget seems irresponsible at best.
Should Sheriff Bane like to meet with me on the myriad of other issues pertaining to the safety of our families, friends and communities here in Harford County, I would gladly offer my nearly 30 years of policing experience to the mix. I have been very fortunate to have served in numerous administrative, operational and tactical assignments during my state-wide law enforcement career and can offer a more global perspective on a wide array of public safety issues.
For example and perhaps as a starting point, effective staffing and the safety of our Correctional Deputies assigned to the Harford County Detention Center are one of the important items I would like to discuss. During my 2010 campaign, I offered my commitment and my plan to add additional Correctional Deputies prior to the opening of the new expansion of the facility. Today, a year and a half from Election Day, the Sheriff has opened parts of the new Detention Center expansion without additional staff. This is a safety issue. The safety of our deputies, staff, inmates and our citizens and neighborhoods is very important to me. With a record number of in-custody deaths under Sheriff Bane’s watch, I am disappointed that he does not turn his efforts to effectively staffing the Detention Center.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey R. Gahler
Now Sheriff Bane is sending his Chief Deputy to the Detention Center to keep a lid on the discontent being expressed by the Officers there. The DC Officers are very worried about their safety and have expressed this to their Commanders. Sheriff Bane is not happy about the discontent and has had meetings with the Commanders there to express his displeasure with them. Warden DeHavens retirement was announced shortly after one of those meetings. As another poster stated in another thread, both the Warden and Assistant Warden have abandoned the ship and are watching it sink from the shore. The DC has become Harford County’s Costa Concordia, with Bane at the helm, because he refuses to listen to those who knew how to operate a jail. A function Sheriff Bane knows nothing about, nor really cares about.
Too bad Mr. Capasso has retired, He treated me with respect. Thanks to him I have changed. The Sherriff walked by me once and he did not even look at me when I said hi. He looked scared to be on the floor. The guards said he was treating them bad and they wished he was not the Sherriff. THey say he told them lies and dissed them. I would not trust him.
Thats because Uncle Jesse never worked a day in corrections in his life. Hes bad behind his desk and AC office, but get him out in the REAL population and well, well he can only be big around deceased inmates.
Does anyone really think that Bane actually did the work on this? If you were to ask Bane he would tell you the Detention Center is at full staff.The only thing he prepares for is his blow the smoke up the rear ends of people at his little community meetings. I guess he is a community organizer, we all know how well things work when people like this are running things.
Maybe someone should come in and do an audit of the books to see how things are really being run. Then again with a liberal Sheriff, liberal Governor that will never take place.
Everyone knows that when you take a job some OT is going be required. But to have Officers at the DC constantly doing 20+ hours a week? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to hire someone?
Family of a DC Officer,
It may not be cheaper, but it would certainly be more cost effective, safer for both officers and inmates, lead to fewer errors in day to day operations, and extend the time your officers have before burnout.
Attempting to run a jail on the ‘cheap’ is a losing proposition!
Not to rain on anyone’s parade but making your people work overtime is an insidious way of saving money. If you hired someone they would require all sorts of benefits and support to staff that extras position. Not a bright move from a management point of view – that is, if you subscribe to the notion that management should enable its people to be able to perform work, unfettered.
trust me there is no overtime….
nice to see real names, for the most part, signing the comments…well done, gentlemen/ladies…
Todd, I wonder why Bane supporters will not use real names? I know why the people who work for him and do not carry the FOJ card can’t!
What are you talking about Marc?
FOJ card?
You keep saying that Marc. Do you have Tourette’s? Or are you just obtuse and annoying?
No Mr. Porter it is an inside joke. Did someone buy you a dictionary for Christmas? I am impressed with the big words you are using now.
For all of us who do not have a dictionary.
obtuse
adjective
he frustrated his teachers by pretending to be obtuse: stupid, slow-witted, slow, dull-witted, unintelligent, ignorant, simpleminded, witless; insensitive, imperceptive, uncomprehending; informal dim, dimwitted, dense, dumb, slow on the uptake, halfwitted, brain-dead, moronic, cretinous, thick, dopey, lamebrained, dumb-ass, dead from the neck up, boneheaded, chowderheaded. ANTONYMS clever, astute.
I for one am thankful for your educating me on new words. Next time just give it to me plain….Marc are you being an a hole. You have to bring it down to my level. Remember I was just a dumb cop with only a high school education. I was not schooled as well as you and the Banester.
The DC officers have always been treated like second class citizens. Period. But they are working FAR below staff constantly and are asked to meet expectations that management (the Sheriff) doesn’t give them the resources to meet. Sheriff Bane- read your college books again- management 101 – IF you want successful staff- you mucst give them the resources to be successful. Instead- GOOD leaders are being run out because they are helpless to help.
And yes- most will not use their names. Not because they don’t stand behind what is said but because most have SEEN the retribution under the current sheriff. Sheriff Vane is trying to save moneyby skimping at the jail… Really. These men and women are in a concrete building with some very bad people- this is the LAST place skimping should be done. Eliminating positions that are there for a reason and loading more responsibilities on those that are left- just means something is going to get overlooked. Be a leader Bane and take care of your men and women rather than chastising them for falling short to unrealistic expectations with absurdly short resources.