Law Enforcement

A new 2013 budget, up just slightly from this year, is expected to be adopted Tuesday by the Jefferson County Commission following a sparsely attended public hearing Thursday night. The difference between this year's budget and next year's is about $2.7 million, said Paul Shroyer, the county's chief financial officer. The fiscal 2012 budget is $22.9 million compared to $25.6 million that goes in effect on July 1. In April, once the state approves the new appropriation, the commission will set a new levy rate of $13.09 per $100 of assessed property value, up from $12.04 per $100 in the current year.

Jefferson County's two female sheriff's deputies came to their careers from different paths. Cpl. Tracy Harrison got into law enforcement following an eight-year stint in the U.S. Marines, while Deputy Phoebe Leber is following family tradition. Harrison, 35, who has been on the force for eight years, is one of three deputies in the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department's detective division. While she has investigated all kinds of criminal activity, her current responsibilities mostly deal with drug investigations.

More than four years after Smithsburg police Officer Christopher S. Nicholson was shot and killed while on duty, his father is trying to get the fallen officer's service weapon. Larry Nicholson said he wants the handgun as part of a memorial for his son. Maryland law allows police officers' guns to be sold or transferred in a variety of ways, but doesn't permit what Larry Nicholson wants to do. Del. Andrew A. Serafini, R-Washington, and Sen. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington, have filed House and Senate versions of a bill to help Larry Nicholson with his quest.

Editor's note: This is another in a series of Eastern Panhandle candidate previews that The Herald-Mail will be running over the next several months. The announcements also will be posted on our website, www.herald-mail.com, through the West Virginia primary on May 8. To submit announcements, email them and a color photo (preferably a jpeg) to billk@herald-mail.com or matthew.umstead@herald-mail.com. Any questions? Call 301-791-7281. Two-term former Jefferson County Sheriff Everett “Ed” Boober  has announced his bid to wrest his old job back from incumbent Sheriff Robert E. “Bobby” Shirley, who succeeded Boober in 2008.

There can be no excuse for driving past the red flashing lights of a stopped school bus. The law is universally known, and the reason for the law is universally understood. And the potential consequences of failing to stop are clearly understood as well. Why anyone would risk such tragedy is hard to fathom, but apparently people still do. So Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore has successfully petitioned the Washington County Board of Commissioners to allow cameras on school buses in hopes of encouraging greater compliance with the law. The cameras would be mounted on 20 buses to start, on routes that have had the most problems with law-breakers.

Law-enforcement agencies and local cab companies will be out in force on New Year's Eve to make sure Washington County's roadways stay as safe as possible. Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore and Maryland State Police Lt. Tom Woodward said troopers and deputies will carry out saturation patrols to keep impaired drivers off the road. "It certainly is a time that gives us concern," Woodward said, noting troopers will start the saturation patrols this evening and finish Monday morning.

It's an image that can shoot fear through your nervous system. That oncoming car headed straight for you is manned by an absent-minded driver, head tilted slightly downward, intent on sending that next text message. Gone are the days of leisurely drives, replaced instead by a barrage of cellphone chatting, texting and a litany of other distractions. "It seems as if driving has taken a secondary place. Your vehicle should be your primary focus. When you get in that car, your attention should be on the road," Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michele Davis said recently.

Shine blue lights to honor law enforcement To the editor: Law enforcement families, agencies, towns and friends of law enforcement are urged, again this year, to decorate or place blue lights in memory and respect for all law enforcement peace officers, present and those who have passed on. By placing blue lights in a window of your home, business or police agency, you show respect and support for those officers who...

About a dozen police officers - usually the first to come upon the carnage left by drunken drivers - stood by their cruisers Wednesday in a show of solidarity against what they call "a preventable crime. " With December National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Month, the officers - from a dozen agencies in Franklin County, Pa., Berkeley County, W.Va., and Washington County - gathered at the southbound Interstate 81 rest area in northern Berkeley County to launch a "Border-to-Border-Border-to-Border Impaired Driving Enforcement Campaign.

Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins joined other law-enforcement officials on Capitol Hill this week to praise a strict immigration-enforcement program that some groups have criticized as ineffective. “This is about the rule of law,” Jenkins said at the meeting in Washington, D.C., Wednesday. “This is about saving America. This is about public safety and national security.” In 2008, the Frederick County Sheriff's Office became authorized to act as field agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.