Patrol

The new, volunteer mounted patrol unit launched over the Memorial Day weekend by the Howard County Police Department has been deemed a success. "It went very well, and we're happy with the results," said Lt. Paul Yodzis, commander of the department's emergency response division. The unit, made up of 12 volunteers and their horses, patrolled parks, pathways and other locations in the Savage area, acting as a "high visibility deterrent to crime," according to a news release from the department.

During a career spanning four decades, Baltimore police Officer Ron Starr says, he never really considered leaving the department's Southeastern District and moving up the chain of command. "I never wanted to," Starr said, a longtime foot patrol officer. "I'm not knocking what they do, because we need administrators, but when you put three stripes on, you're not out there working with street, and I've had a love affair with the street for 38 years. " Starr, who is single, flashed a silver band with a blue line that he wears on his ring finger.

FREDERICK — Police in Frederick County say a Smithburg man has been charged with driving under the influence and other charges after his vehicle struck a Maryland State Police patrol car. Police say 19-year-old Robert John Gery hit the patrol car parked on Raven Rock Road near Fort Ritchie at just after 4:30 a.m. Saturday. The trooper driving the patrol car sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

The Annapolis Police Department will have officers looking for drunk drivers from Cinco de Mayo celebrations on Sunday. The department will have "saturation patrols" around town looking for impaired drivers. Drivers are encouraged to call 911 if they spot drivers who might be impaired by drugs or alcohol.

It was ridiculous to read that the Maryland National Guard is being sent to Texas to patrol the border ("Md. National Guard to aid patrol of Mexican border," April 19). The only people coming over the southern border are the very poor who are desperate for some semblance of a decent life. If the Maryland Guard is in need of work, I think a better use of its members would be to go after the corporate tax cheats. For example, the guard should be arresting the CEO and the board of Wells Fargo.

Baltimore police have enlisted state troopers to help with patrols as the city confronts a spike in crime, a move that puts to an end years of disagreement between the two agencies over the state force's role in local law enforcement. With the Maryland State Police now led by a former Baltimore police commander, the agencies began talking about the new arrangement over the summer, and new Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts has pushed it forward as part of his plans to get more officers on foot deployments.

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.

During a career spanning four decades, Baltimore police Officer Ron Starr says, he never really considered leaving the department's Southeastern District and moving up the chain of command. "I never wanted to," Starr said, a longtime foot patrol officer. "I'm not knocking what they do, because we need administrators, but when you put three stripes on, you're not out there working with street, and I've had a love affair with the street for 38 years. " Starr, who is single, flashed a silver band with a blue line that he wears on his ring finger.

BAQUBAH, Iraq - The chaplain and the medic noticed it first: a pile of freshly upturned soil at the side of the highway. The two men were part of a combat engineer patrol searching for roadside bombs, the leading killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. Riding inside a "Buffalo," an armor-plated vehicle with a mechanical boom, they stopped to investigate. A claw on the boom tore into the dirt and unearthed two artillery shells wired to a blast pack and a cell phone, the components of a remote-controlled bomb known as an IED, or improvised explosive device.

Dennis Conti stopped at the corner of Clay and Glenwood streets on a recent night, and a group of men gave him long, hard stares. Conti put his car into park and stared back for a few tense moments. Finally, the group dispersed, most of the men walking off into the darkness. Conti allowed himself a small grin as he put the car back into drive. "They don't like us," said Conti, head of the local crime patrol. "Well, it's mutual." City leaders are hoping that scene replays itself more in the coming months.

A Baltimore County police officer has been charged with malfeasance in office after detectives said he repeatedly engaged in and recorded sexual acts while on duty, including at least one video sent to a 16-year-old girl. Aaron Z. Pross, 29, of Newark, Del., who was assigned to the Pikesville Precinct, is being investigated by his agency and could face additional charges. Detectives said he took more than 120 images and 20 videos engaging in sexual acts with himself and an adult woman while he was working.

Towson University is trying to reassure its student population and address the concerns of national civil rights groups after a pro-white race student group recently announced it would conduct crime-watching patrols at night. Matthew Heimbach, a Towson senior and founder of the White Student Union, made headlines across the country earlier this week for the patrols, which he said were in response to a spike in black-on-white crime. Heimbach said the patrol members would be unarmed except for flashlights and pepper spray, though he had previously told Towson's student newspaper his members have gotten firearms training.

Barely a week after the group made national news for advocating for racial segregation at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Towson University's White Student Union is again drawing attention for plans to conduct nighttime patrols to watch for crime. Matthew Heimbach, a 21-year-old senior and founder of the group, said his group plans to go out a few nights a week - the men armed with only Maglite flashlights, the women with pepper spray - and will attempt to make a citizen's arrest if they witness a "violent felony.

Baltimore City Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts is still relatively new on his job, so it's probably unfair to make too much of his unfortunate response to a question last week about the recent spate of gun violence that left nine people dead on the city's west side. "Though we're having a spike in homicides," Mr. Batts said, "our organization is working better, faster and smoother, and you can see it in the overall stats. " There was nothing factually wrong in Mr. Batts' answer; department statistics show an 8 percent drop in crimes of all types over this time last year.

Jim Mingle and Mike Boyd, detectives for the Baltimore Police Department, usually work in ties and jackets, but as daylight wanes on this day, they are standing on a West Baltimore street corner in their uniform blues. "Still fits," Mingle says, patting his stomach. Mingle and Boyd are looking out over a sidewalk in the 1700 block of Walbrook Ave., a long, straight street lined with two-story rowhouses. The late afternoon seems calm, and kids play basketball on the sidewalk just a few houses from them.

Baltimore police said they were aware of no problems connected to early St. Patrick's Day celebrations Friday night, as they brace for a weekend of boozy revelry once bars open today. The department announced plans to flood bar districts with officers and will have help from state police forces too. They are hoping to avoid a repeat of last year, which saw Canton Square trashed by drinkers and a large group of teenagers fighting downtown. So far, though, things are quiet, according to police, and this evening additional officers will be patrolling the Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Canton and Federal Hill.

The Baltimore Police Department announced Wednesday an expected shakeup in its top ranks, including a new deputy commissioner and new leadership for the patrol and criminal investigations divisions. The moves were triggered by the retirement of Deputy Commissioner Deborah A. Owens, who had held that position since Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III took over in 2007. Col. John Skinner, who has overseen the patrol division, will take Owens' spot, overseeing issues including finance, recruitment and discipline.

Several hundred Baltimore and state police officers will be saturating the city's bar districts this St. Patrick's Day weekend, looking for drunken drivers and people drinking in the streets, law enforcement officials announced Thursday. "Roadways in and around Baltimore will be heavily patrolled," Baltimore police patrol commander Col. Garnell Green said. "Plan ahead. Have a designated driver. Know where you're going to park and expect large crowds. " Maryland Transportation Administration Police and Maryland State Police are teaming with city officers on a crackdown of rowdy behavior that plagued Canton Square last year, when residents complained of scores of people drinking openly outside bars, breaking glass and leaving trash strewn all around.

Rounding up the usual suspects and putting officers on foot patrol for a few weeks are desperate moves by the Baltimore Police Department to temporarily shut down gun homicides before the nice weather arrives and street crime picks up with a vengeance ("6 killings continue violent 2013 start," March 5). Temporarily flooding the streets with foot patrols is feel-good initiative similar to gun buy-back programs. Violent crime in this town is gun driven, and officers on foot, unless they are jacking up every possible suspect they see while walking their beats, will probably just displace people with illegal guns to other parts of their district.