From Jeffrey R. Gahler, candidate for Harford County Sheriff:
Recently, I attended the July meeting of the Edgewood Community Council and listened with great interest as many members spoke about the good and bad things that are accepted as commonplace in the Edgewood/Joppatowne Community. Those in attendance included a few citizens concerned with the increasing violence in their community and many were political representatives, including the meeting’s main speaker, County Executive David Craig, there to offer their support and insight on working to address the needs of the area.
During the meeting, Sheriff Bane used his time to discuss the continued increase in criminal activity in the Edgewood area and stated that over the last “couple of months”, his Office has lost its “grip” on the area. After conceding to the rise in crime (which, by the way, is occurring in more than just the Edgewood area), Sheriff Bane seemed to point a finger of blame and admonish the citizens of Edgewood for not attending his hastily scheduled and poorly advertised summer crime initiative meeting the week prior. According to Sheriff Bane’s own words, only two residents of the community, experiencing the most recent troubles, attended the meeting.
What was surprising to Sheriff Bane was not surprising to me. After weeks of planning, Sheriff Bane announced his summer initiative and touted the most vital component of it being community involvement, but the weeks of planning for this most vital component did not include a meeting date, time or location. This critical information came a day or so later and was not widely received, so much so that many still have not learned that this important meeting has already occurred. The day finally chosen for this vital community meeting was the evening of July 3rd, the night before a major holiday and one of the busiest travel days of the year. As I said, I am not surprised by the poor turn out from the community, but unlike Sheriff Bane, I don’t find fault with the community, but rather with a lack of inclusion and effective planning by the Sheriff. Sheriff Bane continued on before the Edgewood Community Council, but presented very little substance when outlining his actual plan which he proudly touted had been under construction for weeks.
Sheriff Bane’s effort in launching his summer initiative fell flat on his first and admittedly most critical step – citizen involvement. Such meetings, after losing control for months, are not productive or effective. Community meetings must be timely, provide accurate information and address proactive, not reactive, efforts to ensure the safety of our friends and neighbors. The community must be part of the discussion as issues are identified and addressed, not spoken to after control is lost. I am happy to commit to the Edgewood/Joppatowne Communities and all of Harford County that as your next Sheriff, such vital meetings will take place with the community before control is lost and at a time convenient to you and not one conveniently scheduled around political appearances.
Sheriff Bane closed out his comments with more politics by pointing out we are entering the election season and made note that one of his political opponents has criticized him for concentrating too much on the Edgewood Community. I have very little doubt that this assertion was directed at me as we have seen (and continue to see) from Sheriff Bane, misdirection, inaction and half-truths as the only things he has brought to bear. Unfortunately Sheriff Bane, when he left the focus of the meeting, let it be known that the meeting was for his political agenda, not for the right reason – safety. To be clear, I have made a point to say that in order to be successful in combating the criminal element in Harford County; the sole focus cannot be isolated to the Edgewood area alone. As Sheriff, I will police the entire county with the same unwavering vigor and determination. The Edgewood/Joppatowne areas comprise nearly ten percent of the County’s population and it is clear that this area will always require more of the services of County Government, to include law enforcement, based on sheer population. I do not believe, and I suspect many residents in these areas agree with me, that much of the crime in the area is not perpetrated in a vacuum. Strong influence from other areas contribute to the disorder. This has been my consistent statement concerning Edgewood and a statement that Sheriff Bane has unfortunately chosen to reword to suit his agenda.
I believe the men and women of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office are committed law enforcement professionals and know that they care for all of our citizens. What is missing is a leader who is respected by the rank and file and who understands that since the Office of Sheriff is a political position, there needs to be a credible police leader who understands politics, not the politician who thinks he understands law enforcement as is the current condition. For those open minded citizens, who want timely, effective and proactive law enforcement in Harford County, I ask you to follow the campaign closely, look at the issues and contact me should you have specific questions on the issues facing Harford County.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey R. Gahler
2014 Republican Candidate for Harford County Sheriff
Ouch. Bane is going to have a hard time doing his political parade in Edgewood with the chunks he just had taken out of his ____ ! Since we cannot speak freely for fear of being fired like a female deputy recently was, I would like to thank Mr. Gahler for always staying on top of Sheriff Banes BS! Is it time to vote yet?
Well said Deputy Dog, No Support from Sheriff Bane or the Harford County Deputy Sheriff’s Union. They are more concerned about keeping people or worried about deputies from dropping out of the political actions committee(PAC). Throw me out of the union do me a favor, you don’t do anything for me to begin with your nothing but a political tool. Threats don’t work its a shame you have gone to such tactics. How about growing a set of B#lls and doing what is right. First off retirees who have been hired back(and had the job announcement catered to them) or people that have had integrity issues about sleeping on duty with there gun belt off, after being caught in the Cederday development shouldn’t be retained(But again you help out the guy that got you an endorsement from when he was the union president and screw over the other guy). But keep screwing with the little guy because soon your true image will show Sheriff Bane. Keep up the good work, anyone with a brain needs to wake up this man is destroying what little is left. I’m sure the public or someone within your circle will question me but maybe they should question you. I Don’t know what Jeffrey Gahler brings but if its anything of integrity it must be better then you.
All Gahler has said is that he wants to be sheriff. There is no plan in this blabbering rant. Does he think that the rest of the county is being neglected? What does that mean?
Jedgar – Jeff Gahler has a plan and explained it well during the last election. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to find if you did a little research. Better yet, contact Jeff through his website.
A few years ago I can remember hearing Bane say that putting 7 more officers in Edgewood , averaging 4 more per evening, would do no good in addressing the crime issues there. What a goof. He simply has no clue, partly due to the fact that he never worked Edgewood when he was on the road. He never made any drug arrests, delt with gang members, or wrote traffic citations. Basically he never performed any law enforcement duties besides responding to alarms. He was out of touch then and he is out of touch now.
I too, must hide my identity. My job has already been threatened when my support for a new candidate was discovered. The female deputy that deputydawg mentioned is only one of SEVERAL deputies that have been bullied, chastised, threatened and abused by the current administration when they were caught supporting another candidate.
Good, hard working deputies have been punished, demoted and fired. They have no way to defend themselves because the entire process is being tainted.
Mr. Gahler is absolutely correct in stating that crime is a county wide issue, it is not isolated to the Edgewood area.
A friend who lives in the edgewood area texted the following to me earlier today: How dare Sheriff Bane hold these meetings on a holiday weekend with little to no notification to the public that reside in the affected areas. That is a flat out smack in the face to the citizens of Edgewood. Sheriff Bane obviously thinks we don’t care enough to come out and support our community. Well I can tell you first hand, he is wrong!
Mr. Gahler, I fully support you and your campaign. Please put thus county back where it used to be, give the deputies back their pride and the ability to do their jobs without fear of retaliation from their highest superior and his henchmen.
For the record, it’s not just the sworn law enforcement officers that Bane goes after. Many civilians have been targeted as well.
Well it looks like old Sheriff Hug a Thug may be having problems in the hood. It’s a shame he doesn’t even know what’s going on in his own agency, let alone Edgewood & the county. JB loves to see his name in the press. Time for a change in Harford County.
Get your arm bands and brown shirts out guys.
Where are the guardian angels? They seem to have had a solution in the past, did they run off too? Its funny the City Police Commissioner Batts announces his initiative and then goes out with his officers on the streets. Just wondering if Bane has been out and seen what his officers deal with on a daily basis.
Bane hasn’t the slightest clue. He relies on his clueless majors to tell him what to do, and that majors only agenda is to catch deputies trying to eat lunch at an open business. Soon you won’t see any patrol cars around they will all be hiding behind closed business’s. It’s just not worth the hassle of doing good police work for a command staff that never did it themselves, don’t understand it, and have no clue.
No but they can sit on the fat #sses and eat together on the second floor during there breakfast club. But don’t let the patrol major see you eating together because she rules the world.
LOL Bane probably carriers his bullets in his pocket like Barney Fife. You will never see him out at night on the streets of Edgewood.
Not if, but WHEN Gahler takes office, I sure hope he lets the “dawgs” off the chain in his high crime areas. No tolerance, no warnings. 100% enforcement. Flood those areas 24/7.
I love it when Republicans say stuff like this – FLOOD an area 24/7 – and then vote for tax cuts as often as possibly, denuding the government from being able to fund such a move. Clueless…
George,
When is the last time citizens in Harford County were able to “vote” for a tax cut for county taxes?
Many times it is possible to “FLOOD” an area with officers by using resources that you already have, but not currently assigned to patrol in the southern district. Reallocating your resources is always an alternative to spending massive overtime.
Sheriff Bane “Vows to drive off criminals”, according to the front page article of the Aegis dated July 5, 2013. Drive them off? Where to? Driving them off to a neighboring jurisdiction will do nothing. The criminal element may move a short distance away but, the will return to do their dirty deeds. I recall the Sheriff making the SAME generalized statements prior to the last two elections…….many folks have been wondering when something will happen for the good!
Allan Vought, Aegis Editor, made it plain and simple in his report on the 1st page of the Aegis, also dated July 5, 2013…..”The incumbent Sheriff, Jesse Bane, has told several of my colleagues at The Aegis he intends to seek a third term, A BAD MOVE FOR HIM, I believe.”
Do the right thing for the sake of the law enforcement side of public safety for Harford County and elect Mr. Gahler as Sheriff in 2014.
MD Patriot, I am glad that you read The Aegis. At least you don’t just read the Dagger. However, if you have lived in this county for any time, you will find that many people don’t rely on the editorials of The Aegis to make their decisions.
Gahler will soon find he will be budget and manpower constrained. Was very sorry to see Steve Moyer move to Florida. Not so sure if Bane can do anything about south county but I can’t see where a highway patrolman like Gahler is going to have any more effective plan and results. That’s why I don’t hold much hope in this non county police force mentality. We always end up with white guys that just stayed in their cars for a chunk of their careers, with not much effective urban type policing skills or ideas.
You want a “highway patrolman” like Moyer then? He was from the same Department and working side by side with the State Police (not highway patrol). I can tell you I work with troopers everyday and although they have highway barracks most of the troopers are hard working police officers at full service barracks. Most troopers i know say Mr. Gahler was all about the troops and that is why a lot of us are behind him.
The next Sheriff to follow Bane will not be constrained in the least. All he needs to do is set free the deskbound deputies and disband some specialized, mostly redundant, units and send them out on the road. The manpower is there, just poorly utilized under Bane. Did you know there is a deputy whose main function is to be a gopher for the kings and queens who reside in the ivory tower? He can be seen every morning and at lunchtime picking up and delivering carryout meals to the elite. That is what your Sheriff is doing with his manpower. Don’t believe it? Just ask around.
“The Edgewood/Joppatowne areas comprise nearly ten percent of the County’s population and it is clear that this area will always require more of the services of County Government, to include law enforcement, based on sheer population.”
…..huh???
My sentiments exactly!
Okay, I will play. You are good with Bane’s lack of common sense picking a meeting date, his hijacking a community meeting to press his politics, his overall poor or total lack of planning for his big crime initiative, but there is something you don’t understand about the sentence from Gahler. What is it? The sentence is grammatically correct and seems straight forward to anyone with half a brain.
I wouldn’t expect you to understand. I am not about to teach you basic English rules, but have you ever heard of a run-on sentence? I bet even you can find some. Grammar Police pointed out a sentence that was not only run-on, but didn’t make any sense, whether you agree with Gahler or not. One further issue since you asked- How did Gahler know about this meeting? Obviously, the meeting date was posted some where. I think Cindy apologized for the Dagger’s missing it. So, maybe you guys ought to read more than the Dagger to get your information.
On Point, I don’t have the willingness to explain English writing to you. He has a monster run-on sentence in one paragraph, Grammar Police nailed him for a sentence that is gibberish and really doesn’t make sense whether you are a Gahler supporter. I am not going to teach you English communication. Take adult classes. One final thought since you asked. If Bane kept the meeting secret, how did Gahler know about it and attend? I think Cindy apologized for the Dagger missing printing the date that the HCSO gave for the meeting. Now, maybe you and some others ought to consider reading other publications than just the Dagger. You might not be so apt to post some of the things you do.
Monster/jedgar (one and the same)
Apparently many others also missed the announcement. Somewhere around 20 people showed up for the meeting, one of which was, according to you, Gahler. Twenty people out of a population of approximately 34,000. I do read the Aegis and missed seeing the meeting date announced. Which edition of the Aegis was the meeting announced?
I didn’t say that it was announced in The Aegis. You love to engineer my wording. My question which you failed to answer, even acknowledge was how did Gahler know about the meeting. It was posted somewhere, my guess is in the area of Edgewood. I don’t know that, it is my guess since there were a few people there. Now, go back and read more carefully instead of rushing to the keyboard and you will see that Gahler was there.
What this shows, Mike, is the apathy of Edgewood residents. How many attend the regular community meetings? Out of how many people? Oh, yeah, I know it is Bane’s fault that the community is so disinterested. How about the 2 sheriffs previous to Bane. Do they have any blame? Tell me neutral Mike. Share your wisdom with us all.
Monster/jedgar (one and the same)
I did not say you stated the date was announced in the Aegis. I asked what edition, if any, announcement of the meeting was published.
I would have no idea how Mr. Gahler found out about the meeting. That is a question you should ask Mr. Gahler. Given your comments above that you guessed the meeting was announced somewhere in the Edgewood area, perhaps Mr. Gahler found out because he was physically in the Edgewood area and was able to the the posted announcement. Your guess on that is as good as mine.
On an up note, something you and I agree on. It does perhaps show the apathy of Edgewood residents. However, this meeting was scheduled for July 3, the night before a holiday, and for many, an extended weekend. Not the ideal time for many folks. I am not suggesting that Sheriff Bane did this intentionally to create a low turnout. That said, it would also indicate that he and his command staff probably did not consider that such a date and time would quite possibly result in a very low turnout.
With regard to the two previous Sheriffs. What would you like to blame them with or for? If the Aegis and Mr. Gahler are quoting Sheriff Bane correctly, it is Sheriff Bane who stated that there has been an “increase in crime” over the past several months and that he has “lost his grip” on the situation. Sheriff Bane has been Sheriff going on 7 years, just exactly what do you think the current situation has to do with the two previous Sheriffs?
Once again, Mike, you have attempted to engineer my words. The reference to the last couple of sheriff’s was a question to you. I asked that because you refuse to acknowledge that the Edgewood problem began years ago. However, since it fits your political agenda, you only want to blame Bane. We both know that is a pile of crap, Mr. Gahler/Mr. Bodway.
Monster/jedgar (one and the same)
Read my post again. The only thing I blamed on Sheriff Bane was picking July 3rd, for his meeting date.
I saw it on the Sheriff’s Office Face Book page and sent the link out to people. Gahler was one of them. Probably the residents feel they have heard this from Bane before and realized it was an election year. I know I only have a 12th grade edumacation but I think even I could come up with a plan to fix this problem. Sadly several cronies of Jesse’s have asked for my cell phone number but it never rings. Call me, we can do lunch and bring Skippy.
With all due respect to you, Mark, I don’t think you can. Tell us what your plan is, I will be excited to hear. It is certainly not Gahler’s answer that not just Edgewood should be served. Who doesn’t know that?
Simple, do what Meadows and Walter did back when the Bloods and the Crypts came to Perrywood. Let your people go in and re establish the pecking order with the thugs. Take no crap and cause no harm, do it smart and do it well. As a famous Deputy once said “you gotta stop em to pop em.” There should be no more jobs within the department where certified police officers are working Monday to Friday and having weekends off. If it moves stop it, if they step out of line show them how to get back on that line. Flood the area twenty four hours a day seven days a week three hundred sixty five day a year with police. When you find out that they are going somewhere else you follow them and continue. You just make it impossible for the drugs to flow and the bad guys to intimidate. Police do the intimidation not the thugs. Drugs, guns, stolen property, and wanted people use cars to get around. You let your people be cops and do what cops do, chase the thugs out of Edgewood. Once the people living in these areas feel secure they will come forward. Run tags tow cars write citations make arrests. You have a Traffic Task force why not have a crime task force. Bring in the Town Police to give you a hand. Work close with the Drug Task force and Gang Unit to identify the trash and focus on them. Bring in the County and clean up trash and board up vacant houses. Establish a 311 line for people to call in tips, establish a page on the web site for all open warrants with pictures. You have a Face Book page, update it daily with the progress you are making. Put the names of everyone you arrest along with a picture on there. Bad guys hate to have people know who they are. Have the media do ride alongs. Have weekly meetings with the community to explain how things are going and take questions from them and ask if they see the difference. Once they get involved tips will come in. You just make it a relentless surge of Police and you put your foot on the gas and do not let up. If the criminal element can not make a profit or survive they have no choice but to move on and again when they do you follow. You have a nice big jail use it. You should be training everyone how to work at the jail. I worked there and it was very good experience. Now, when this is all said and done and you have made progress and cut down on crime………you change nothing and continue. No more bodies setting around, keep your foot on the thugs necks. Lt. Dale Zepp told our Academy class that “we were the police and this is our county, not the criminals.” Now this is how this loose cannon would do it. Problem is this is not politically correct enough for this Sheriff and he can not ignore complaints on his people. He can not control the IA 28 Major and the campaign of destruction she is on. He can’t and won’t let his men and women be cops, he wants them to fear him and fear for their jobs. Well congratulations Jesse this is what you have. He seems to be more interested in getting votes then ruffling some feathers. You have to be a politician to get elected as Sheriff, but after that you have to be a cop and lead your people. This is something that you have shown you are not capable of doing in the last six years.
Edgewood is certainly the epicenter of crime in this county, but crime has been spilling over into other areas for a while now, especially into Abingdon. My guess is that Abingdon has received the brunt of the spillover because redistricting much of Abingdon into the Edgewood school district years ago, held home values in those neighborhoods down and caused flight of its most outstanding citizens. Thats what happened to my family. I personally dont know that there is much you can do about Edgewood, except demolish it and start over.
The patrol major is about as worthless as a car that has run out of gas. She has it out for all but maybe she should look in her mirror and see that she is the true issue. She runs the department and calls the shots. The only time she was quiet is when she targeted a patrol corporal because she knew she was wrong, but what did the Sheriff do he turned an outside agency’s sustained internal into a “policy error” and fired a HR asst. She is untouchable if you think not then you are clueless. Clean house bring an all new command staff in, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings. You screwed a GOOD clean cop over just look at his record on case search and ask people that worked for him or he trained that speaks for itself. Keep up the good work HCSO commanders keep letting a tyrant dictate. The true problem is you your lack or leadership, your failure to stand up for your people and lack of growing a set of %alls.
Does anyone know that the patrol Major and the Sheriff were set to do foot patrol about two weeks ago in Edgewood for the Sheriff’s big initiative? Did you see them? You want to know why? Because it rained and they didn’t want to walk in the rain. I am not kidding! Ask some of the 4-12 guys down south to confirm. The Major didn’t want to get her weave wet, or get those fake nails dirty, or get her uniform wet because then those thunder thighs of hers would be rubbing together and she would get chafed. It definitely doesn’t have anything to do with her make up running since it’s tattooed on. Seriously, you expect your Deputies to police 24/7 no matter what the weather. Way to set the example.
I bet they ate good that night. Maybe her driver Major Jackson from the jail wasn’t available to drive them. Or maybe they were all making an 80 proof song. Who knows I’m sure the deputies are glad that Mr Burns and Major IA-28 didn’t show up.
I didn’t see the weave or Mr. Burns out. Last time I saw Mr. Burns was at the community meeting with the 20 people that attended.
Bane and Major IA 28 were busy doing a remake of Blazing Saddles for the Library.
Hahahahaha!