State Police Barracks

Annapolis and College Park would lose their Maryland State Police barracks if the General Assembly agrees with a recommendation from legislative analysts to close the two for a savings of $5.2 million as part of a state police cost-cutting plan. The Department of Legislative Services plan would preserve the 70 trooper and supervisory positions at the barracks, likely redistributing them to some of the 21 other state police locations throughout Maryland. But Lt. Bud Frank, a state police spokesman, said the department vehemently opposes closing Annapolis and College Park, calling them "major hubs for dealing with homeland security."

Among the many rites of summer that are being renewed this holiday weekend, police across Maryland plan increased patrols in an effort to clamp down on drunken driving and boating. "Most folks will be off on holiday, but we are working," said Sgt. Thornnie O. Rouse, spokesman for the Maryland State Police. "People often tell us that they are paying our salaries. We are just showing them they are getting their money's worth." Stepping up patrols on Maryland waterways, the state Department of Natural Resources has canceled leave for its 280-member police force who are involved in "Operation Osprey" this weekend.

Tfc. Douglas W. Reitz, an eight-year veteran of the state police barracks in Westminster, has been named its Trooper of the Year for 1996.Reitz handled more than 850 calls for service last year, made 63 criminal arrests and 21 juvenile apprehensions. More than 75 percent of his cases were solved, police said.In addition, Reitz wrote more than 800 traffic citations and 270 warnings. He investigated 28 traffic accidents and made 90 drunken-driving arrests, the most among troopers at the barracks.

About a third of Maryland's state police barracks have new supervisors after an overhaul of the department's command structure this month and several dozen recent promotions. Shortly after Col. Edward T. Norris was named superintendent in January, he replaced about half of the 23 barracks commanders. Although some of the latest round of changes were made to fill voids created by promotions and retirements, other command changes were needed to staff the agency's new Homeland Security and Intelligence Bureau and to reorganize other units in the department, said Maj. Greg Shipley, a department spokesman.

For Lt. Lawrence E. Faries, the new state police barracks commander in Westminster, his June 5 reassignment from Prince George's County was a homecoming of sorts. He was assistant commander of the barracks from 1986 to 1992 and has lived in Carroll County for 24 years.In replacing Lt. Bruce Tanner, who was transferred to Hagerstown, Faries faced an immediate challenge. Two days after he arrived, state police officials published annual Uniform Crime Report statistics showing that serious crime in Carroll County rose 5.4 percent last year, the biggest increase in the Baltimore region, which also includes Anne Arundel, Harford, Howard and Baltimore counties and Baltimore.

State and local officials will break ground tomorrow for a Maryland State Police barracks in Westminster.A one-story, 11,900-square-foot facility will replace the existing barracks, state police said. The $3 million project could be completed by summer 1999.Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. David B. Mitchell are expected to attend the 11 a.m. groundbreaking ceremony at the barracks at 1100 Baltimore Blvd.The new barracks will include a 4,200-square-foot garage, and will be built slightly west of the existing facility, said Lt. Leonard M. Armstrong, commander of the Westminster barracks.

New technologies and a larger building will enable the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to expand its services in Westminster, Administrator Ronald L. Freeland said this week.Computers will allow motorists to renew registrations, which they cannot do now, and will reduce waits in lines, he promised.Mr. Freeland spoke to the county commissioners and town officials Monday during a meeting with state transportation officials at the County Office Building.Plans call for a new MVA office to be built adjacent to the Maryland State Police barracks on Route 140 outside Westminster late next year, he said.

State officials are expected to award a $1.67 million contract tomorrow to a Reisterstown company to build a full-service Motor Vehicle Administration office in Westminster.The new MVA office is part of a joint state construction project in Westminster. The MVA office would be built next to the new state police barracks and garage on the state-owned 4.6-acre tract at 1100 Baltimore Blvd.Half of the project -- under separate contractors -- is nearly completed. Maryland State Police moved into their new barracks and garage last weekend.

A homeless man walked into the State Police barracks in Glen Burnie Sunday night and confessed to last week's robbery of the Linthicum branch of a NationsBank, county police said.Harold Clendenin, 41, was charged with robbery.Police said the man had been drinking before he walked into the barracks in the 6800 block of Aviation Blvd. about 10: 30 p.m.He gave state troopers a written confession to last Thursday's crime in which a man walked into the bank in the 200 block of Benton Ave. about 10 a.m., approached a teller and held a note at eye level.

A Baltimore man remained in critical but stable condition in the Maryland Shock Trauma Center last night after being shot in the chest while illegally hunting deer in Carroll County over the weekend, authorities said.Brian Edward Johnson, 36, was shot Saturday while hunting with three other people on private property near Reese, said Bob Graham, spokesman for Maryland Natural Resources Police. Mr. Johnson's shotgun discharged into his chest.Police, who have received conflicting statements from witnesses, are still investigating to determine if the shooting was accidental or self-inflicted, Mr. Graham said Sunday.

Annapolis and College Park would lose their Maryland State Police barracks if the General Assembly agrees with a recommendation from legislative analysts to close the two for a savings of $5.2 million as part of a state police cost-cutting plan. The Department of Legislative Services plan would preserve the 70 trooper and supervisory positions at the barracks, likely redistributing them to some of the 21 other state police locations throughout Maryland. But Lt. Bud Frank, a state police spokesman, said the department vehemently opposes closing Annapolis and College Park, calling them "major hubs for dealing with homeland security."

Patrol officers in Howard County and at a handful of other area police agencies are getting high-tech tools to help them track crime and crime trends while on their beats, with a few clicks of a computer mouse. Six agencies, including three in the Baltimore metropolitan area, are being outfitted with free hardware and software that will plot crime data on maps - offering for visual analysis a record of calls for service and crime trouble spots. The equipment, which is to be installed in Howard County, the state police barracks in Bel Air, the Westminster Police Department and three other agencies within a month, is courtesy of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, which developed the software, and from a grant administered through the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention.

Patrol officers in Howard County and at a handful of other area police agencies are getting high-tech tools to help them track crime and crime trends while on their beats, with a few clicks of a computer mouse. Six agencies, including three in the Baltimore metropolitan area, are being outfitted with free hardware and software that will plot crime data on maps - offering for visual analysis a record of calls for service and crime trouble spots. The equipment, which is to be installed in Howard County, the state police barracks in Bel Air, the Westminster Police Department and three other agencies within a month, is courtesy of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, which developed the software, and from a grant administered through the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention.

A funeral procession will drive past Carroll County Courthouse, the sheriff's office, the jail and Westminster State Police barracks today, allowing the law enforcement community to pay tribute and bid farewell to one of its own. Grover N. "Sam" Sensabaugh, former sheriff, retired barracks commander and most recently court bailiff, died Friday of a heart attack at Carroll County General Hospital. The longtime Westminster resident was 72. He was best-known as a law enforcement officer, but he also owned and trained several racehorses and was a pilot with more than 50 years of flight experience.

PHILADELPHIA -- Gaunt and scraggly, packing a pocketful of quarters but no weapon, fugitive killer Norman Johnston emerged from a stand of trees early yesterday into a yard where three state troopers were interviewing a homeowner."

State officials are expected to award a $1.67 million contract tomorrow to a Reisterstown company to build a full-service Motor Vehicle Administration office in Westminster.The new MVA office is part of a joint state construction project in Westminster. The MVA office would be built next to the new state police barracks and garage on the state-owned 4.6-acre tract at 1100 Baltimore Blvd.Half of the project -- under separate contractors -- is nearly completed. Maryland State Police moved into their new barracks and garage last weekend.

25 Years Ago (Week of Dec. 7-13, 1969):* An off-duty Howard County police officer apprehended a 14-year-old Baltimore resident for alleged possession of burglar's tools. The officer's girlfriend had noticed the youth carrying a ladder to the rear of the MacAlpine Pharmacy at around 11 p.m. Saturday.* Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and his entourage were detained in an accident-related traffic tie-up on U.S. 29 while en route to a party in Pikesville honoring the vice president and his late father.

A paraplegic with cerebral palsy told authorities she was abducted in a van, raped and left in a grassy hollow near the Waldorf state police barracks yesterday morning.A trooper found the woman crying about 3 a.m. in a field next to the barracks off a service road behind the U.S. Route 301 commercial corridor, police spokesman Mike McKelvin said. She said her assailant left her there to go to a nearby restaurant.An off-duty trooper at the restaurant arrested Daniel Lee Dean, 29, of Waldorf, after police broadcast a description.

State and local officials will break ground tomorrow for a Maryland State Police barracks in Westminster.A one-story, 11,900-square-foot facility will replace the existing barracks, state police said. The $3 million project could be completed by summer 1999.Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Maryland State Police Superintendent Col. David B. Mitchell are expected to attend the 11 a.m. groundbreaking ceremony at the barracks at 1100 Baltimore Blvd.The new barracks will include a 4,200-square-foot garage, and will be built slightly west of the existing facility, said Lt. Leonard M. Armstrong, commander of the Westminster barracks.