At the 2010 State of the County Address on Jan. 14, I shared an initiative that had been previously detailed in a letter to Commissioner Julia Gouge. This is — word for word — what I expressed in the letter to my fellow commissioners:

The time has come for this Board of Commissioners to embrace change in our delivery of law enforcement services in Carroll County.

Circumstances have blocked a change from the Resident Trooper program to a county police force. The last opportunity for such a change was removed when the majority of the board failed to pass the relevant ordinance in the summer of 2008.

It should be obvious to any serious observer that the next Board of Commissioners will move away from resident troopers and instead shift primary law enforcement responsibilities to the Sheriff's Office.

Given the budget difficulties that we have experienced, and will likely face for the foreseeable future, the prudent course would be for the current board to give the next board a head start by initiating a five-year plan to expand the Sheriff's Office and phase out the Resident Trooper program.

My proposal is that during the fiscal year 2011 process, we shrink the resident trooper program by nine officers and expand the Sheriff's Office by that same number. This process may have some initial up-front costs, but the near term and long-term prospects would lead to significant savings.

This transition will bring certain challenges. Ultimately, I expect the results to lead to superior service to the citizens of Carroll County.

The unwillingness of the Maryland State Police to shift to shared patrolling and its ever-expanding cost for resident troopers clearly indicate that this program is not suited to carry us into the future.

My recommendation is to schedule this proposal for early consideration in our budget process.

Assuming Commissioner Gouge and Commissioner Dean Minnich are interested in the concept as worthy of discussion, we would want to get law enforcement officials involved in those discussions early and often. The time has come for all parties involved to be proactive and practical.

Michael D. Zimmer, member

Board of County Commissioners

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