Law Enforcement

WILLIAMSPORT - Biting dogs, noisy neighbors, skateboarding, speeding and the potential dangers of methamphetamine were among the concerns of local officials when they met Thursday to discuss law enforcement. A meeting of a new committee of town and City of Hagerstown government representatives and law enforcement officers drew about two dozen people to Williamsport Town Hall. "It gives an opportunity, it gives a forum to these municipalities," said Washington County Sheriff's Department Col. Randy Wilkinson, who participated in the talks.

marlob@herald-mail.com Tommy Bowers wants the voters of Washington County to know that he was a good cop and now he wants to be a good sheriff. "I really miss it," Bowers said. "I want to serve the public the best way I know how. " A former Washington County Sheriff's deputy, Smithsburg police chief and Smithsburg mayor, Bowers said he is running for Washington County Sheriff to fulfill a lifelong dream. In the general election Nov. 5, Bowers is going up against incumbent Sheriff Charles F. Mades, a retired Maryland State Police trooper who hasn't had a challenger since first being elected in 1986.

A career officer with the Hagerstown Police Department, several prison correctional officers and a deputy with the Washington County Sheriff's Department who found a sharpened spoon in the waistband of an inmate's shorts were among those honored at Friday night's annual Public Health and Safety Day "Recognition of Excellence" awards at Hagerstown Community College. John A. Rowley, commissioner with the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, was impressed by the cooperation between local law enforcement agencies in Washington County, he told those assembled in HCC's Kepler Theater.

Children's Village received a check for $3,000 as a result of the second annual law enforcement ride organized by the Blue Knights MD II. The ride is held each year in memory of slain Smithsburg Police Officer Christopher Nicholson, who was killed in the line of duty two years ago. Officer Nicholson was a volunteer police instructor at Children's Village at the time of his death. The Nicholson family shared that Children's Village, with its mission of providing free life-safety education and skills training to all second-grade students in Washington County, plays an important part in their family's goal of keeping Chris' name and memory alive.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. A grab bag of new law enforcement equipment soon will be making its way to law enforcement in Berkeley County following a check presentation Friday by U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito. Capito, R-W.Va., presented Sheriff Randy Smith and Chief Deputy Kenneth Lemaster with a Department of Justice equipment grant award for $148,500 that will be used to purchase laptop computers and new firearms for the office's 45 law enforcement officers. The money will be used to purchase 50 new handguns to replace the department's 10-year old cache of firearms and provide the office with 45 new laptop computers, Smith said.

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -- Four area law enforcement agencies received top honors from AAA for their community safety efforts and enforcement activities, according to a press release from the East Central Region branch of the automobile association. The recipients of Platinum Awards at a luncheon Friday in Berkeley Springs were the Berkeley Springs Police Department, Harpers Ferry Police Department, Martinsburg Police Department and West Virginia State Police Troop 2 command based in Jefferson County.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Cash, cars and big-screen TVs. Laptop computers, an all-terrain vehicle and even a house or two. It adds up to more than $670,000 worth of assets seized as a result of the prosecution of drug-related crimes in Berkeley County in the last three years, said county Assistant Prosecutor Richard Stephens, who calls his work both an effort to fight the local trade in illegal drugs and help fund the local law enforcement agencies who...

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- Some local law enforcement agencies say they try to make audio recordings of their interrogations with suspects accused of serious crimes when possible, even though they currently are not required to do so. Now, grants from the Maryland Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention will fund the purchase of digital audiovisual recording equipment for six law enforcement agencies in the state, including the Washington County...

WASHINGTON COUNTY - The list of priorities for Washington County's police leaders in 2007 includes continuing the push to fund a Washington County central booking facility, hiring more law enforcement officers and getting methamphetamine legislation passed. If funding is received during this year's Maryland General Assembly session, construction on a central booking facility in Washington County could begin this fall, Sheriff Douglas Mullendore said. Maryland State Police 1st Sgt. Jay Resh, the Hagerstown barracks' acting commander, said a central booking facility is needed to keep troopers and other law enforcement officers on patrol instead of having them tied up for hours on one arrest.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Both men asking Berkeley County voters to support them on Nov. 4 to be the county's next sheriff tout their many years of experience. Carlton "Cootsie" DeHaven, 57, of 194 Dinali Drive, said he worked as a law enforcement officer for the Martinsburg Police Department and the sheriff's department for a total of about 16 years. The Republican Party's nominee also mentioned his years as a Berkeley County magistrate and work in legal research. "With having 23 deputies with less than two years experience, that's where that (judicial background)