Enforcement

Maryland is failing to ride herd on water pollution in the state because of serious funding shortfalls and its own flawed enforcement practices, according to a Washington-based think tank. The Center for Progressive Reform contends in a new report that while Maryland has some of the nation's toughest environmental laws, its enforcement of water pollution regulations is lagging. "They could do better," Robert L. Glicks- man, the report's co-author and environmental law professor at George Washington University, said of state environmental officials.

The Harford County State's Attorney's Office held its annual awards ceremony Wednesday for the top law enforcement officers who made outstanding drunk and drugged driving arrests in Harford County during 2011. State's Attorney Joseph Cassilly presented the awards in the ceremonial courtroom in the courthouse. "Our law enforcement officers are the best in their efforts to maintain safety on the roads in our county," Cassilly said. "They are responsible for saving many lives and sparing families the devastation caused by impaired drivers.

All the recent emphasis on enforcing our way to a clean Bay is completely misguided. Bay water quality will continue to fall short because the bay lacks oysters -- which are nature's primary way of removing excess nutrients. Everyone contributes to bay water quality impairments. We are on the right track with the point source investments that have been made as well as expecting greater efforts from agriculture, new development and urban storm water. However, we continue to deceive ourselves if we think attainable (and sustainable)

Police around Maryland said Wednesday that they would continue to collect DNA samples when suspects are arrested for violent crimes and burglaries, despite a recent ruling by the state's top court limiting the practice. Several law enforcement agencies, including the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, were awaiting a decision on whether the state will appeal before they make changes. Gov. Martin O'Malley, Baltimore's mayor and a chorus of state and local officials called for an appeal of what they see as a crucial tool that has linked suspects to other, unsolved crimes.

If you live in Maryland and order a box of $5 stogies over the Internet this summer, you might get busted for accepting an illegal tobacco shipment. Or you might not. Comptroller Peter Franchot says he doesn't want to enforce a prohibition on Internet sales of premium cigars that took effect May 1. The ban was "an unintended consequence" of 2010 reform of wholesale tobacco commerce, he said in a letter to legislative leaders dated Monday. He asked their permission to suspend enforcement of the law until the fall, when the General Assembly meets again.

Seeking to get more students onto sidewalks and off icy streets, the Howard County police announced yesterday that they will begin enforcing a county requirement that sidewalks be shoveled.County law requires homeowners to clear their sidewalks within 48 hours after a snowfall. Violators can receive citations from the police and be fined up to $50.The announcement of stricter sidewalk enforcement came a day after an Oakland Mills High School freshman was struck by a car while walking home from school.

Baltimore police officers may not "prevent or prohibit" people from taking photographs or video of crime scenes and other law enforcement activities that are in public view, according to a department-wide directive made public Friday. The new rules essentially repeat a policy that has long been the norm, department commanders say, but which has been difficult to enforce without written guidelines. The release of the general order comes after a series of confrontations between the seemingly ubiquitous camera-wielding public and officers in Baltimore and elsewhere — including several court challenges.

Five substances known as "bath salts" were added to the list of Schedule 1 Controlled Dangerous Substances list in Maryland through emergency regulations Tuesday. The move codified an order issued this summer by Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, whose office had conducted a study and determined that the synthetic substances aren't yet widely available in Maryland but they could become a threat to health here. Sharfstein said the move gives law enforcement more power to enforce the earlier ban on bath salts, which can be inhaled, ingested, smoked or injected and can cause cardiac and circulatory problems as well as paranoia and psychosis for days or weeks.

Following the first on-duty death of a Howard County police officer in more than 40 years, the department's chief said yesterday that he will re-evaluate traffic-enforcement details that require officers to step into the roadway and flag down speeding motorists - a dangerous practice that some departments have abandoned. "We will take a look and determine if it's a practice we want to continue or modify," Howard County Chief William J. McMahon said after Pfc. Scott Wheeler died yesterday of head injures suffered Saturday after a car he was trying to stop hit him. "If there's lessons to be learned, we will."

Responding to criticism by a state commission that they weren't doing enough to protect the shoreline from development, Anne Arundel County officials have launched an ambitious enforcement program, including the use of a helicopter to locate waterfront trouble spots. Last year, the county was rebuked by the Critical Area Commission, which enforces a state law limiting development within 1,000 feet of the bay, for failing to properly enforce the law and follow up on reported violations.

Did you miss this story? Read it here , and search a Baltimore Sun database to see whether your veterinarian has been in trouble . The Baltimore Sun's recent investigation into Maryland's veterinarians began with a question from Maryland Editor Dave Rosenthal: What, exactly does the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners do? As it turned out, the answer to that question brought to light several recent cases in which veterinarians were found to have provided inadequate care, failed to conduct proper tests or kept poor records.

Tianna Hawkins never really was one for Barbie dolls and cartoons. As her mother remembers it, Tianna was barely out of diapers before something a little different had caught her attention. And it certainly wasn't pink or sparkly. "Ever since she was 4 years old, her favorite show was 'COPS,'" Latanya Hawkins said Friday. Seventeen years after her first foray into the world of getaway cars and police standoffs, it's easy to see why labeling Hawkins as Maryland's shooting star these days might cause a bit of confusion.

A Forest Hill man died Friday morning in a three-car crash on Route 543 near Goat Hill Road in Creswell, under circumstances similar to a crash almost two weeks ago in which three siblings died. The accident comes following one of the deadliest months on Harford roads in several years. Seven people died in motor vehicle crashes in February. Nine have died in a little more than two months this year. In addition, Maryland State Police said they will step up traffic law enforcement along Route 543 from the Bel Air area south to I-95, as the highway is becoming one of the most deadly in the county, if not the entire state.

Baltimore police officers may not "prevent or prohibit" people from taking photographs or video of crime scenes and other law enforcement activities that are in public view, according to a department-wide directive made public Friday. The new rules essentially repeat a policy that has long been the norm, department commanders say, but which has been difficult to enforce without written guidelines. The release of the general order comes after a series of confrontations between the seemingly ubiquitous camera-wielding public and officers in Baltimore and elsewhere — including several court challenges.

With Harford County Council Bill 11-51 having been enacted into law, Harford County has completed the legislative process of updating its building and mechanical codes to the applicable 2012 International Codes, commonly called I-Codes, prior to the state-mandated enforcement date of July 1. The 2009 I-Codes will remain in effect until the July 1, 2012 with one exception. The requirement for installation of an automatic residential fire sprinkler system in new one and two family dwellings has been delayed until the July 1, 2012 date.

An Anne Arundel County waterfront landowner and a contractor accused of doing work without a permit have been hit with financial penalties and probation in the first two cases brought under the county's aggressive new environmental enforcement strategy. County officials and prosecutors say they will continue to go beyond traditional enforcement measures, using civil and criminal penalties to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from serious violations. "The stakes have gone up dramatically," said Joseph F. Devlin, one of the attorneys for Emanuel Krousaniotakis, the owner of waterfront property outside Annapolis.

Saying they lack resources to do the job, state regulators acknowledged yesterday that their agencies have done almost nothing in recent years to regulate mortgage brokers and appraisers -- key figures in property flipping in Baltimore. "There is a whole area of the law that has to be enforced," Mary Louise Preis, Maryland commissioner of financial regulation, testified at a General Assembly committee hearing called to examine the practice that has been rampant in Baltimore for more than three years.

— Charles S. Long was upset to discover that a bulldozer had cleared the land next to his, knocking down trees and uprooting day lilies on his property in the process. A state inspector also found problems with the clearing project: It lacked a plan for controlling sediment pollution, and nothing had been done to keep mud from washing off the land into a nearby creek when it rains. What's more, the landowner, William L. Tarbutton, who lives in Preston, has run afoul of state regulations before— as a contractor, he worked on developments in Queen Anne's and Caroline counties that were cited in 2007 and 2008 for sediment control violations.

President Barack Obama's recess appointment to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Richard Cordray, wasted no time in announcing the watchdog agency's "nonbank supervision program. " Bringing nonbank mortgage lenders more fully and formally under federal supervision could represent a historic moment for fair housing enforcement more than four decades after the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. But only if congressional Republicans get out of the way and let Mr. Cordray do his job. Primarily targeting discrimination by real estate brokers, the 1968 law made it illegal to refuse to rent or sell real estate on the basis of race, religion, or national origin - all common practices prior to its passage.

A woman accused of helping oversee the prison-based Black Guerilla Family gang was sentenced to five years in federal prison, federal authorities announced Thursday. Kimberly McIntosh, 43, of Baltimore, enforced gang discipline, helped oversee drug trafficking, and hosted meetings of high-ranking members at her home, where leaders discussed drug-dealing, robberies and retaliation against rivals. Prosecutors allege she came up with a plan to have street commanders of the BGF raise $3,000 from lower-level members, with the funds transferred into a central "treasury.