From the Harford County Sheriff’s Office:
Today, Sheriff Gahler announced two key appointments that further fulfill the promises he made to citizens of Harford County.
First, is the addition of Robert McGainey. McGainey has been hired as a Part Time/Temporary Civilian HR Specialist. In addition to, and separate from those duties, Mr. McGainey is continuing his role as a member of the team Sheriff Gahler put in place to evaluate all aspects of the agency. In keeping with Sheriff Gahler’s campaign promise, the Aviation Unit will undergo a comprehensive review, evaluation, and assessment; McGainey will oversee this process. Prior to joining the HCSO, McGainey retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Maryland State Police after serving thirty-four years. He was the Chief of the Support Services Bureau which included the Personnel, Logistics, Records, and Information Technology Commands.
McGainey served in the Aviation Command for twenty years where he attained the rank of Captain. In that Command, McGainey progressed through a variety of roles to include being a paramedic, supervisor of operations, training, safety, risk management, and aircraft maintenance ultimately becoming the Assistant Commander. McGainey served for eight years on the Emergency Numbers System Board. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Emergency Health Services from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Sheriff Gahler said, “I promised to take a close look at the Aviation Unit and its operations before making any significant changes to the program. With more than twenty years of experience in law enforcement aviation, Mr. McGainey is the perfect person to assist in this effort.”
Second, is the creation of a new civilian position, Community & Legislation Liaison. “With more than ten years of experience in both county government and legislation, Erik Robey is the right person to assume this role and move the Office of the Sheriff forward in the community, to a level that has never been seen before,” Sheriff Gahler said of Robey’s appointment. This new position will work closely with community members and legislators to ensure the needs of the community are quickly addressed. Robey will provide an additional set of eyes and ears to the Sheriff and, as a civilian, open new doors to communication with this office. Robey, who most recently worked for Crovato BG, has an extensive background in local government, legislation and policy. He served in a number of positions with Anne Arundel County Government over the last decade including Legislative Aide to the County Council, Director of Community Services, and Chief of Staff. He headed a number of task forces and committees including the Anne Arundel County Community Grants Award Committee, Criminal Justice Coordination Council, Clergy Advisory Board, Fire Station Location and Operations Committee and County Executives Government Efficiency Group. Robey is a military veteran serving, in Operation Southern Watch as a Air Force Security Police Officer. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from National Louis University. He and his wife reside in Bel Air with their four children.
Crony politics the gift that keeps on giving.
Thought the Sheriff spoke of putting more boots on the roads and policing vs. administration??? Guess he has some favors to pay first? Why does the Sheriff need a hr generalist? Don’t they already have people assigned to do that job? Questions need answers…
the HR position needs assistance. One person can’t run the whole show. Oh wait, bane let that happen. Hopefully the helicopter will fly off into the sunset. The guy put in charge of evaluating the program has the knowledge. Not just some guy in a flight suit telling us what we need to think. Oh wait, bane let that happen. Bane couldn’t even tell his valued members good bye. Oh wait, he put it in the paper.
Sheriff Gahler has hired two new civilians. He is not taking sworn law enforcement officers off the street and putting them in made up positions like Bane did. The one guy is part time. The Sheriff can’t just instantly disband all the units Bane created without first doing an assessment. When this is done, you can be sure a lot of deputies will be back on the road and not sitting behind a desk taking Bane’s golden girls’ lunch orders..
Hmm. Yeah, he created two civilian positions, but didn’t give any of the civilian employees a chance to apply. In fact, these positions were apparently just created out of the blue. Seems pretty underhanded to me. Definitely not a good way to begin.
Exactly which civilian employees who were already members of the HCSO do you believe would have been well qualified to accomplish the work expected of the two newly created positions?
I don’t know which civilian employees would have been qualified and neither does the Sheriff. He doesn’t know the civilian employees and didn’t take the time to hold an oral board to find out if anyone else is qualified.
The employee’s resume on file would have been enough.
Gahler brought in all new leadership from the outside. No surprise to me he wants to have trust in those around him. Too many Baner years to undo.
so far he is doing what he said. At least he didn’t keep all the majors in positions. I hope they like retirement. I’m sure skippy could get a job as an out of work lawyer. Keep up the good work!
Good job Jeff, if anyone can determine if the aviation unit is needed a retired paramedic is the man for the job.
The Sheriff of Harford County just hired an admitted criminal that only escaped charges because he was given immunity to testify against his boss? Erik Robey was the former Chief of Staff for John Leopold, the Anne Arundel County Executive ousted for having police officers empty his colostomy bag and keep his girlfriends from finding out about each other, not to mention what may have not happened in the back seat of a car parked at the Annapolis mall.
That’s right, Erik Robey testified on the stand an according to what he said, he did political work on county time, including recording a robocall and having the county police loading campaign signs. He also did fundraising work on county time. http://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2013/01/23/the-leopold-trial-day-3/
On top of all that, Erik Robey put together “dossiers” of his boss’s political opponents and used the county police force to run background checks on Leopold’s opponents.
I don’t think this is the kind of guy that Jeff Gahler wants to be associated with.
Erik Robey has to GO! If he was involved in the AA County and used police to make “dossiers” on people. He is no better then the people that are arrested. Why would someone be hired with that background? He avoided prosecution by getting immunity. AND NOW HE IS GOING TO BE IN A POSITION OF AUTHORITY AT THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE. I wouldn’t even let him walk my dog!
Mr. Robey may be well qualified to accomplish the duties that Sheriff Gahler has in mind for this newly created position, however, I do not believe his selection is a good one. There has to be other qualified individuals who do not bring the kind of baggage Mr. Robey brings to the HCSO.
I sure hope the sheriff rethinks this move. He came into office with higher hopes then bane. The sheriff doesn’t need to have him around. I’m sure he could take a ride on the helicopter that is going bye bye! Oh wait, he could get a job, with a former sheriff, and they could talk about their time employed by the sheriff’s office. One could tell you what he thinks will be his legacy and the other one could tell you what he would have done with his legacy…LOL Seriously, Sheriff….rethink this appointment.
We need a Police dept.
I feel we are doing a misjustice to the large population of Harford County to get rid of the helicopter.
Our own helicopter gives the county instant access rather than waiting for one to come from some other jurisdiction.
How instant are the HSCO pilots/crew? Do they have other jobs within the HSCO that would include travel time to the hanger? Or are they in positions where they are ready to spin up the rotors as soon as a helicopter is requested?
I’m going to guess MSP aviation is ready to go at any time during their day as their mission is also medical transport as well.
Whats the response time (typically) for MSP versus HSCO? If MSP has a longer flight, but gets to the same place (typically) just as fast as a county’s own aviation because of logistical reasons, then????
The decision will ultimately come down to costs (Manning, equipment, maintenance, training, operations, etc.) measured against actual mission necessity. I don’t believe anyone argues that having an aviation asset available is not a valuable tool. If such an asset were cost effective every Sheriff’s Office would have one or more aircraft in their inventory. The real consideration here is cost vs actual necessity.
The helicopter also has to fly to keep the training up so its unrealistically to think it just sits until it is needed, they said it was only going to be used so many times a year. Maybe for an actual request, but it has to fly to keep the flight hours up. Its not your lawn mower you put away until spring.
Will it just fly around everyday waiting for it to be actually needed? Sounds like a lot of money.
The helicopter is manned. No one is racing to the hangar to respond. Its mission is completely different than msp. MSP aw139 is roughly 5k per hour to fly of our tax dollars vs roughly 300 or so and despite what you think it will leave if medical missions arises. Each helicopter has a different mission. If your a contractor building houses you dont buy a mini cooper to get materials to and from and vice versa. Many agencies want helicopters but are not fortunate to get one from the feds so they are forced to buy new. Bane completely mis spoke on number of uses. And last of all here…lets look at why Balt Co, AA, Howard, PG and now Queen Annes (looking into it) started their own units back in the 80’s and 90’s instead of relying on MSP. I would think thats saying something there. We want to be big boy county … why do we want to rely on everyone else…lets just use Balt Co and MSP for everything.
And county pd wouldnt solve the problem. Same thing but at a different level. So far what the new Sheriff is doing seems good. Getting things done that needed to be done.
You say that the HCSO helicopter is manned. Does that mean it’s manned 24/7? It was my understanding that the helicopter was going to be available on a limited basis and manned part time with personnel already employed by the HCSO Has that changed?.
I’m really confused with Tanker15’s comment.
What does building homes and mini coopers have to deal with my questions? Moot analogy that makes no sense.
Either answer my questions or post your own multi paragraph run off opinion somewhere else. “Big boy county”
Its manned? In what regard, besides the obvious someone flies it in and out of an airport.
The pilots and crew are waiting around 24/7 when they aren’t training, or flying it in any other regard to a request?
Where is it even stored? Did they build/own the storage hanger?
We just posted a full story on these appointments, with some comments from Sheriff Gahler.
http://www.daggerpress.com/2014/12/10/sheriff-gahler-backs-appointment-of-former-top-leopold-aide-initiates-review-of-aviation-unit/
henry, we don’t need a police dept. does not anyone yet realize that our gov. is not our friend and the police do not do what they were hired for. oh yes, they are doing what they were trained for, the problem is they have been trained to see citizens as the enemy. no, I don’t know what the solution is, I do know that what we have is broken and people like jeff will only make it worse, though probably not intentionally. one can only work with the laws and programs dictated by law and when they are broken you really have nothing to work with. I’m not worried, obama will save use…@#$%&fizz