County police ride-alongs open some eyes

Behringer, vice president of the Old Mill Community Association, was one of a dozen community leaders who shadowed Eastern District officers for eight hours July 23 to get a feel for crime in their neighborhood, point out problems and learn what police do on a day-to-day basis.

Participants such as Behringer learned just how busy officers stay on each shift, even on a somewhat slow night.

"We were going from call to call to call," he said. "You have to respond to everything. We stopped to grab a drink (and) that was it. There was no stopping to eat. And it wasn't even a busy night."

Last month, Capt. David Waltemeyer, Eastern District commander, extended an invitation for community association leaders to participate in a ride-along with officers.

Waltemeyer anticipated that the night would be a learning experience for both the participants and police. He purposely teamed community leaders with officers who patrol their areas.

The idea was for participants to share their experience at upcoming community association meetings, and for police to learn more about their respective beats in the Eastern District.

The district encompasses about 84 square miles and serves more than 160,000 residents in Orchard Beach, Pasadena, southern Glen Burnie, Millersville, Severna Park, Arnold and the St. Margarets area.

Waltemeyer encouraged participants to point out problem areas and report any concerns, big and small, they have about their community.

'Over way too soon'

The dozen participants met at the Eastern District station on Mountain Road in Pasadena for 3 p.m. roll call. They were given maps of Eastern District and small notebooks to take notes.

Police told participants they could get out of the patrol car and listen in as their officers handled calls.

Kevin Sharpe's eyes widened as the group was told they'd be dropped off at the nearest safe location in the event of a high-speed chase.

Sharpe, 53, vice president of the Fox Chase Homeowners Association, said he has watched many episodes of the "Cops" TV series.

"I've always wanted to do a ride-along," he said. "It was over way too soon."

Like Behringer, Sharpe was unaware of how busy officers stayed throughout their shifts.

"I didn't think there was that much going on in the area," he said. "It's nice to see they don't sit around in one place."

Sharpe watched officers handle multiple calls, from a lost cell phone to disorderly conduct, a suspected drug transaction to an armed robbery.

"I got to see them question a guy who had $15,000 on him - he'd just come out of an apartment complex known for drugs," he said. "I learned a lot about the apartment complexes around here. I didn't realize some of them were that bad off until I saw them at night. I realized we (Fox Chase) have it pretty good for the little amount of crime we have in our area."

Message received

Maureen Carr-York, 54, representing the Brittingham community in Severna Park, said she voiced concerns about burglaries in her neighborhood to officers during the shift. She said the ride-along further opened the line of communication with police.

"They are always telling us, 'Don't be afraid to call,' " she said. "And I think after this, I will reinforce that" at the next community meeting.

"They know how to prioritize calls, and they'll get there when they can. The police don't mind checking it out, and they have a way of doing it that's not nearly as confrontational as I feared it was."

Carr-York looked on as Officer Matthew Sanchez handled a domestic call at a Glen Burnie apartment complex around 5 p.m. A woman told police her ex-husband, who lives out of state, was flying into BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport and would arrive in 30 minutes. She said he threatened to "blow her head off" and take their kids when he got there.

Sanchez instructed the woman to go quickly to District Court in Glen Burnie and get a protective order. She did, and about an hour later Sanchez and Carr-York returned to the apartment complex - just as a taxi pulled up with the woman's ex-husband inside.

Police served the protective order and the man, who was found unarmed, was instructed to leave.

It was an eye-opener for Carr-York.

"I was really surprised at the skill that the officers displayed," she said. "They were all great at managing emotions that could have spilled out of control very easily, and that's what impressed me. It really did. They handled themselves very professionally and very calmly in a manner that respected everyone concerned."

Sharpe couldn't wait for the next Fox Chase Homeowners Association meeting in September to share his experience. He has already spoken to a couple of neighbors and encouraged them to sign up for their own ride-along.

He said he learned a lot, and he'd definitely do it again.

"I was kind of hoping to get back out and do something else," he said after the shift ended.

YOUR COMMENTS

RULES OF PARTICIPATION

If you encounter other problems, please email nlundskow@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.

In order to post or vote on a comment, you must be signed in with a hometownannapolis account.

Take a look at a summary of Commenting Guidelines.

Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 1 1

@Sal - 2010-07-31 23:01:35

The kitten was doing the speed limit in the left lane!!!

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

Mary Ann Donnell - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

swine flu - 2010-07-31 13:53:34

catchy subject line huh ? that being said I wonder how may of the officers used as the ride-alongees were black, and also how many of the ride-alongers were black. if we can begin our analysis of the propaganda potential of the ride-alongs, this reader feels this bit of data will be crucial in beginning the analysis.

reynold cavern - Annapolis, md - Karma: Terrible

Oh Come Now - 2010-07-31 13:16:15

David Moore - "Did it even occur to you that I may be IN law enforcement at a level other than county?" Dave, if you were I doubt you would show such a bitter streak towards them and propensity to judge based on just a newspaper's story. As one who has worked for both a local and federal agency I can say there is no camparison - locals have it harder. They get frantic, emergency calls with little prep time or backup and every mistake makes the evening news. Then they have the naysayers like you who are "embarrassed" by their perceived mistakes. Understand though that they keep the peace. Feds on the other hand usually get to deal with an event on their timeline and with substantial support. Very little makes the news without their consent. They take their time because they can, thus the expression 'making a federal case" out of something. They can because the locals are still out keeping the peace. That's what these ride-alongs showed to the community leaders.

I may be worthy of trust & confidence but most feds & civilians have little idea of what the locals deal with every day. I think that applies to you too.

M Young - Crownsville, MD - Karma: Excellent

I can defuse this argument - 2010-07-31 12:44:57

LOOK! A KITTEN!

Salvatorre Bagatelli - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Good

keep practicing Steven - 2010-07-31 05:52:13

While the sincerity of your emotion is unquestionable, Steven, you may find that properly and maturely presenting a counter-point is a more adult and effective means of rebuttal than speculation and personal attack. For example, look at Mr Johnson's posting. Rather than name-calling and ludicrous scenarios, he presents a counter-point in an adult manner by actually formulating a reason for his view and an intelligent option for perhaps how I arrived at mine. Honestly, Steven, you know nothing of my background or my qualifications to perform proper law enforcement duties. Did it even occur to you that I may be IN law enforcement at a level other than county? Did it possibly occur to you that I may be embarrassed on a professional level by some recent actions by A.A. County officers? Obviously, and sadly for your "rebuttal", it did not. A beneficial skill to learn, Steven, is to keep rampant emotion in check while insuring the veracity of your response. Keep practicing.

Dave Moore - Arnold, MD - Karma: Terrible

You try it - 2010-07-30 18:40:05

Love your child-like rant Dave. Sounds like you are one of the frequent geniuses that they have to deal with on a daily basis. I would love to see Mr. Moore do their job. I guess when he would run across an intoxicated fool spitting and ready for a fight, Mr. Moore would buy him an ice cream cone and send him on his way. Nice way to put a negative spin on a positive interaction.

Steven Ingrassia - Glen Burnie, MD - Karma: Good

credit - 2010-07-30 18:37:36

We don't read about the million things these men and women do everyday that protect us without incident. We very seldom get a remarkable good story about police efforts. The bad situations hit all the papers and form opinions like Mr. Moore's. They needed good PR, yes. Like a business, they went out and arranged for some. A smart tactic that included the public, in hopes of people realizing just how nerve-racking police work really is. There are not so swift officers, certainly. But they have job responsiblities we can't even fathom. Ease up.

Tyler Johnson - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Excellent

Total PR - 2010-07-30 18:04:16

What a total "grease job"!
With all the negative attention falling on Anne Arundel County cops and their "cowboy" counterparts in other jurisdictions lately, (all of which was their own fault), you could see this public relations schmoozing coming a mile away.

"I was really surprised at the skill that the officers displayed," she said. "They were all great at managing emotions that could have spilled out of control very easily, and that's what impressed me. It really did. They handled themselves very professionally and very calmly in a manner that respected everyone concerned."

This translates to "they were really on their best behavior. They didn't shoot or taze anyone. They managed to mask their usual arrogance and didn't even put on their customary "bully strut".

These 'leaders' who participated are now gushing like 8year-olds who got to sit in a real fire engine and were given an ice cream cone.

Just as scripted.