The classic police Crown Victoria is dead. Long live the Chevy Caprice?
The trusty Ford steed of police departments nationwide for decades has been discontinued, and as that fleet of cars require replacement, the new vehicle roaming the roads of Harford County will be a Chevrolet Caprice.
Keeping those cars on the road, installing and managing their equipment, and replacing them with the Chevys are just a few of the tasks assigned to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office’s Administrative Services Division. Captain Daniel Galbraith, the division’s commander, detailed its operations to the members of the Citizens Police Academy Tuesday night.
The behind-the-scenes work which keeps the agency on track includes more than just maintaining its 339 vehicles, including marked and unmarked patrol cars, boats, motorcycles, and speed-check trailers. The division—which Galbraith said is 95 percent staffed by civilian personnel—is also responsible for supplying deputies with everything from pistols to paperclips, and managing the tens of thousands of records they generate each year.
In 2011 alone, according to Galbraith, the division’s law enforcement records unit handled:
–15,503 police reports
–14,205 supplements
–17, 932 traffic citations, among them more than 10,000 warnings
–3,890 criminal warrants
–2,766 summonses
–6,144 adult arrests
–840 juvenile arrests
–1,588 gambling licenses
–727 expungements
–1,624 domestic violence protection orders
–1,509 public information requests
–1,182 insurance requests
–924 recalls
–6,128 pawn checks
The Sheriff’s Office training academy also falls under the auspices of the administrative division. Based at Harford Community College, the academy offers a 28-week program to new law enforcement hires, and a 10-week program for new corrections officers, as well as various in-service training programs.
Galbraith said the academy is organized along paramilitary lines, with a cadre of drill instructors who challenge the rookie officers.
“We yell at these deputies, put them under a tremendous amount of stress,” he said. “Because the first day out there, they could face the most stressful situation they’ve ever been in, and we want to see how they’re going to react.”
The academy operates the agency’s firing ranges in northern Harford County, which include two handgun ranges, a sniper’s range, and what Galbraith called a “state-of-the-art shoot house”—one of only two in the state—which allows students to progress through a realistic building while trainers critique their performance from catwalks above.
The division also contains the agency’s computer support unit, responsible for maintaining 294 desktop computers, 165 laptop computers, desk phones, cell phones, and the agency’s various computer networks; the electronic services unit, which services car-mounted equipment; and the property management unit, which controls and inventories property in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office.
“All of my units make the Sheriff’s Office run,” Galbraith said. “We do the behind-the-scenes stuff.”
–Tuesday’s Citizens Police Academy class also included a presentation by Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Monica Worrell. Worrell detailed some of the basic tenets of journalism and newsgathering, as well as the local media landscape.
Worrell also discussed the agency’s direct messaging tools. They include e-mail blasts (sign up available via www.harfordsheriff.org, the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, and a virtual map of incident reports available at www.crimereports.com.
Next Week: The Academy takes a tour of the Harford County Detention Center.
For 32 grand each and you need what atleast 250 cars, thats 8 million dollars uncle jesse is goin to spend on these over specd cars for Harford County. Although he ‘ran’ out of money to complete the new addition for the detention center, and can’t afford to hire new officers it seems like the road deputies come out on top again, while the correction officers are given little to nothin.
Where did it say that the HCSO is planning to replace the entire fleet at once? As existing Crown Vics need to be replaced they’ll be buying the Caprices. It’ll probably be at least 5 years (and probably longer than that…there are still some 2005 Crown Vics being used as pool cars) before all the Crown Vics in the agency are replaced.
Ford no longer makes the Crown Vic so the HCSO was going to have to start using a different vehicle anyway. The new Ford police car is based on the Taurus and is either front wheel drive or all wheel drive (and everyone in the agency was trained on rear wheel drive vehicles which potentially opens up huge liability issues the sheriff’s office and county if they switched a front wheel drive patrol vehicle unless they were going to send everyone through EVOC again.)
I know you and some other very vocal people on here have a serious vendetta against Bane, but try using some common sense. It doesn’t matter who the sheriff is, the HCSO would be switching to new a patrol vehicle regardless. Guess you have been retired a long time…
I don’t see a rush to replace every car at once. I’m pretty sure it’ll be one-for-one as a car dies off instead of being replaced with a crown vic it’ll be replaced with a chevy. In fact, I’m pretty sure there are still crown vics being issued.
Thank you, RANDOMPOSTER1, for the common sense response. Vehicles will get replaced as they get decommissioned.
but there are still departments in the agency that will get cars that not up to standard. Let a deputy drive a car that has high mileage, sounds like a tank and guess what….chipped paint. Yes, there are cars still being used that agency members drive. the decommissioned ones will be shipped to other parts of the agency…..does that make second class workers or what. Oh BTW I am a Bane fan. The sheriff makes important decisions, but not every small decision. and retired does make good sense.
Agreed. Retiredawhile seems to have lost something lately with regard to his/her reasoning ability. Of course you have to replace cars, and the HCSO has never replaced all cars at one time. Even though Retiredawhile did not say that was going to occur, it seemed to be implied. Regardless of the car issue, the Sheriff still faces an uphill battle at the HCDC, which is seriously understaffed to support the current physical plant. The potential for costly liability issues within the HCSO are centered at the HCDC and deserve the Sheriff’s full attention.
ya finally say something I agree with…….you can’t be all that bad. LOL
One question Mike….Where do all the decommissioned cars go?
I would imagine they would be declared surplus and offered to auction by the county. But if you really want to know, contact the Fleet Manager for the HCSO.
is Fleet Manager the same as a Fleet Admiral? LOL
Kinda!! Except a Fleet Manager outranks a Fleet Admiral, at least in Harford County!
wow…Im in the wrong business. Always thought the guy with the star, and not the texaco guy, gets to be boss.
I double-checked, and according to Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Monica Worrell, decommissioned cars are stripped of police equipment and sold at auction by the county. The proceeds go into the county’s general fund, she said.
No word on HCSO naval rank structure.
Aaron, you are the man!! And thanks for your informative series on the HCSO Citizens Police Academy. Hope you are enjoying the experience.
It’s always nice to have your friends agree with you.