K 9

Ocean City police are investigating two weekend brawls on the boardwalk, including one that  resulted in the stabbing of a 22-year-old man. Police said Joseph Tyrice Cromartie, 20, of Clinton, was fighting with another man near Fifth Street and the Boardwalk early Sunday morning when people began gathering to watch. By the time uniformed officers on bicycles arrived, the crowd was very large and behaving in a disorderly manner, police said. When officers attempted to separate the two men who were pushing and yelling at each other, police said Cromartie became combative and assaulted the officers.

Ocean City police are investigating two weekend brawls on the boardwalk, including one that  resulted in the stabbing of a 22-year-old man. Police said Joseph Tyrice Cromartie, 20, of Clinton, was fighting with another man near Fifth Street and the Boardwalk early Sunday morning when people began gathering to watch. By the time uniformed officers on bicycles arrived, the crowd was very large and behaving in a disorderly manner, police said. When officers attempted to separate the two men who were pushing and yelling at each other, police said Cromartie became combative and assaulted the officers.

The K-9 unit of Baltimore County Police was called to the scene of an accident in Parkton on Friday to look for the driver of a car who fled the scene. Maryland State Police were the first to respond to an accident on April 27 at 12:47 a.m. on northbound Interstate 83 at Exit 27, Mt. Carmel Road. State police said a 1999 Toyota struck the back of a tractor-trailer and the car caught on fire. The tractor-trailer driver was not injured, police said. Witnesses told police that the lone occupant of the Toyota fled from the scene and ran across the southbound lanes of I-83 and into nearby woods.

The Bel Air Police Explorer Program is hosting a one-week Youth Police Camp this summer for children who are interested in the law enforcement profession. Campers will participate in classroom and hands-on activities with the many different officers from various units within the Bel Air Police Department, including a daily regimen of physical training. There will be demonstrations from the police K-9 unit and the Harford County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit and Motorcycle Unit. The campers will be required to wear a uniform consisting of a T-shirts with camp logo and a baseball cap. The cost to attend the camp is $40 per child.

Baltimore County Executive Roger B. Hayden got a firsthand view of police in action yesterday when a police helicopter and K-9 teams searched for a burglary suspect in Mr. Hayden's neighborhood.The incident occurred about 3:45 p.m. at a home in the 13300 block of Fork Road, in the Long Green Valley area. A 14-year-old youth told police he was checking the house for its owners, who were out of town, when he encountered a burglar, according to Cpl. Thomas R. McCreer, a county police spokesman.

A 17-year-old Columbia girl was raped and stabbed early yesterday in the 5600 block of Columbia Road, Howard County police said. A K-9 police officer apprehended a suspect as he was sexually assaulting the woman, said police spokeswoman Pfc. Denise Walk. The officer released his dog when he saw the assault in progress, Walk said. Malcom William Scott, 27, of no fixed address was treated at Howard County General Hospital for a dog bite before being arrested on five charges, including attempted first-degree murder and first-degree rape, police said.

ROCKVILLE -- Police dogs, already armed to the teeth, have been given more protection for patrolling the mean streets of Montgomery County: bulletproof vests.Montgomery is the first large jurisdiction in Maryland to wrap its K-9 dogs in bullet-stopping Kevlar.The 21 vests, sleek and black, sport big white block letters on the flanks that spell POLICE. (The nameplates are removable, perhaps for undercover work.)They were modeled yesterday in the unforgiving noon sun by members of the K-9 units from the county police, Montgomery County Park Police and Takoma Park Police.

Pfc. Timothy C. Wiley will be recognized as Howard County Police Officer of the Year at Community Awards Night, sponsored by the Howard County Chamber of Commerce, on April 24. Pfc. Wiley and his K-9 partner, Gasto, will share the award. They will also be honored with a Gold Medal Award for bravery. A Silver Medal Award will be presented to Sgt. Page Christis, Pfc. Daniel W. Besseck and Officer John L. Iannone. A Bronze Medal Award will go to Pfc. Michael A. Thorn Sr. Herb Michael will be recognized as Auxiliary Officer of the Year.

The Bel Air Police Explorer Program is hosting a one-week Youth Police Camp this summer for children who are interested in the law enforcement profession. Campers will participate in classroom and hands-on activities with the many different officers from various units within the Bel Air Police Department, including a daily regimen of physical training. There will be demonstrations from the police K-9 unit and the Harford County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit and Motorcycle Unit. The campers will be required to wear a uniform consisting of a T-shirts with camp logo and a baseball cap. The cost to attend the camp is $40 per child.

Annapolis Police Officer Keith L. Brown was fired yesterday, two weeks after a police trial board found him guilty of charges stemming from his failure to keep his K-9 dog on a leash during a drunken disturbance at an Annapolis American Legion Post.Officer Brown could not be reached last night for comment.

The Baltimore Police Department on Thursday added to the growing wave of video valentines to the Ravens on the eve of the AFC championship game against the new England Patriots. Among the cast of hundreds: a mounted unit, a K-9 unit, homicide cops, the bigwigs and a group that seemed pretty conversant with hand-to-hand combat. Based on the production values, it appears only single digits of your tax dollars were at work here. So enjoy! Let us count the ways: 0:19: Pro-Ravens freestyle posturing underscored by coordinated pink lipstick.

Seeking to bolster its response to 911 calls, the Baltimore Police Department on Wednesday announced that it is moving more than 40 officers out of specialized units and into patrol districts.  Changes had been hinted at since the arrival of Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts, who said he wanted to shift more resources to the patrol division, whose officers respond to most citizen complaints. "Commissioner Batts met with community groups, and visited [district] rolls calls where officers literally asked for more boots on the ground," said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Baltimore County police detectives continue to investigate a burglary at Graul's Market in Hereford that took place late Thursday night. Police were called to the store at 220 Mt. Carmel Road at 11:50 p.m. Aug. 30 by the store's security company, a police spokeswoman said. Police found the rear door of the store had been forced open. The ATM machine inside the store had been broken into, but no cash was removed, said Baltimore County police spokeswoman Louise Rogers-Feher. An upstairs office was ransacked, she said, and one safe was broken into, while an attempt to break into a second safe was unsuccessful.

The K-9 unit of Baltimore County Police was called to the scene of an accident in Parkton on Friday to look for the driver of a car who fled the scene. Maryland State Police were the first to respond to an accident on April 27 at 12:47 a.m. on northbound Interstate 83 at Exit 27, Mt. Carmel Road. State police said a 1999 Toyota struck the back of a tractor-trailer and the car caught on fire. The tractor-trailer driver was not injured, police said. Witnesses told police that the lone occupant of the Toyota fled from the scene and ran across the southbound lanes of I-83 and into nearby woods.

Damon Paul Gerber, a retired Baltimore County Police Department captain who founded its police dog unit, died of multiple organ failure Wednesday at Harmony Hall in Columbia. The former Mount Airy and Lansdowne resident was 87. Born in Sykesville and raised in an orphanage, he was a welder at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard during World War II. He then joined the Baltimore County Police Department and served for many years at its Wilkens Avenue precinct. A 1969 News American article, written when a new police dog training facility opened, said the center "grew out of the vision of Capt.

Jesse quivered and refused to budge. A creature defined by her keen senses, the yellow Labrador retriever was overwhelmed in an atmosphere stained by the stench of jet fuel and saturated with the growl of heavy machinery and thumping of military helicopters. But instead of giving up on that hot day in September a decade ago, Jesse and her handler stepped to the side of the Pentagon's north parking lot for a reality check. After a few minutes, the dog got up, approached something in a pile of rubble and gave a distinctive, "Woo, woo, woo. " "I looked," recalled Lisa Nyland, a sergeant with Maryland Natural Resources Police based in Queen Anne's County.

A county K-9 dog bit and subdued a Severn man who had fled a stolen van with four other men Sunday morning, county police said.Officer Lawrence O'Connor and his K-9 partner, Bubba, were called to help military police at Fort Meade about 1 a.m. The military police had chased the suspects to Buckner Avenue and Mapes Road, where they jumped out of the van, police said.Officer O'Connor and Bubba tracked the men for a third of a mile, then saw one of them trying to escape. After yelling a warning, Officer O'Connor released Bubba, who caught the suspect after a brief struggle, police said.

POLICE LOG* Ellicott City: 9000 block of Town and Country Blvd.: An unlocked $150 18-speed mountain bike was taken from a balcony Tuesday or Wednesday.1300 block of Frederick Road: A resident returned home Wednesday night and found a man in the kitchen. The man fled out of a side door. Police used K-9 dogs to track him, but could not find him.

Anne Arundel County and Annapolis will mark the 28th annual National Night Out, an anti-crime neighborhood program, with free events Tuesday night. All events include children's activities and refreshments. National Night Out Against Crime is aimed at promoting safety, strengthening a sense of community and fostering neighborhood relationships with police by enjoying time outdoors with neighbors and learning about crime prevention. Participants traditionally keep a front or porch light on. Community events include civic groups and law enforcement agencies, although individual neighborhoods and blocks may hold smaller gatherings, officials said.