the pending invasion of the June
Bugs, Ocean City will certainly
see a spike in the number of lower
level crimes, such as simple mari-
juana possession and disorderly
conduct, for example, but the re-
sort's holding cells will not likely
be filled with young revelers on
most nights.
enforcement officers in Ocean Ci-
ty and across the state to issue
criminal citations instead of ar-
rests. The intent is to streamline
the booking process and keep offi-
cers on the street instead of
spending hours filling out paper-
work and processing defendants
charged with certain simple of-
fenses that traditionally have been
arrestable offenses.
where in Maryland will it be tested
more than in Ocean City in the
coming weeks when thousands of
high school seniors, college stu-
dents and summer workers des-
cend on the resort. With them
comes a traditional spike in the
number of low-level crimes.
with booking, fingerprinting and
the issuing of charging docu-
ments, will now result in many
cases in a citation issued at the
scene if officers are satisfied cer-
tain conditions are met. That's not
to say OCPD officers are simply
going to be writing tickets all sum-
mer instead of making arrests.
for certain types of crimes and
certain eligible offenses, with the
key word there being eligible,"
OCPD Public Information Officer
Mike Levy said. "Once a suspect
is in our custody, he or she can be
issued a criminal citation under
certain circumstances. For exam-
ple, we have to make certain
we're satisfied with the identity
evidence. In other words, we have
to make sure they are who they
say they are. We also have to rea-
sonably believe the defendant will
comply with the conditions of the
citation. We also have to be sure
that releasing a defendant at the
scene on a citation will not pose a
threat to public safety."
instead of an arrest and the offi-
cers will make a determination on
the scene.
discretion involved, but our offi-
cers will always base their deci-
sions on public safety. Does this
person pose a threat to public
safety if we allow him or her to
walk away with a citation? What-
or make an arrest and a judgment
of a defendant's likelihood to com-
ply with the citation's conditions
will be factor.
arrest is an assurance the lower
level offense is the only one the
defendant can or should be
charged with at the time.
tion," he said. "However, if a
search incident to the arrest re-
veals cocaine, heroin or ecstasy,
for example, that takes it to the
next level and a citation is no long-
er appropriate and an arrest will
be made."
trespassing where the actions of
the defendants after the police ar-
rive would likely determine a cita-
tion or an arrest.
ants have calmed down and
agreed to go their separate ways
and the issue is resolved, citations
might be appropriate in those
cases," he said. "However, if the
situation is not resolved and there
appears to be signs it might esca-
late, in other words one or both of
the combatants says they're going
to come after the other one later,
then arrests are appropriate in
those instances."
next few weeks and the associat-
ed spike in minor crimes, such as
simple possession and disorderly
conduct, there will be ample
opportunity to see how it plays out
eventually.
monitor that when we get a large
enough sample size of citations
issued and court appearances,"
said Levy. "We're going to try to
process these individuals right at
the scene and we soon might
have the technology to do that re-
motely in terms of booking and fin-
gerprinting suspects."
ing documents and narratives tra-
ditionally issued to defendants up-
on their release from jail. The doc-
uments carefully outline why an
arrest was affected, what the offi-
cer said, what the defendants said
and, in some cases, what witness-
es said. Those documents will still
be prepared, but won't be immedi-
ately available to defendants is-
sued citations at the scene.
dence they have," said Clark. "This
fact leads me to believe that the
system could clog up. Unfortu-
nately, being put in jail for a few
hours and having everything ex-
plained to a defendant as they so-
ber up has a way of focusing these
kids to take care of their case."
count as an arrest, but the intent is
to keep officers on the road to
handle calls for service and
reduce the cost to the court sys-
tem."
much of the same court processes
as an actual arrest. For example,
the defendant will have to appear
for a preliminary inquiry at the
later date, at which time a trial
date will be set. Some, including
attorney Brian Clark, who grew up
in Ocean City and maintains an
office in the resort and in Rock-
ville, have raised concerns that
defendants issued citations might
not take their cases as seriously
as they would if they had actually
been arrested and spent time in
jail.
disarray with the June Bugs is the
fact they won't be transported,
booked, fingerprinted and taken to
the Ocean City jail for an overnight
stay and have to bond out and see
a commissioner like they've been
doing here in Ocean City and
statewide forever," said Clark this
week. "So the O.C. jail should see
far less people in them in June as
most who are just charged with
pot or disorderly conduct have to
be issued a citation."
certain eligible charges will not un-
derstand the gravity of the cases
against them and the possible re-
percussions.
stand that it's a jailable offense
and they still have to appear in
court at preliminary inquiry and for
a court date to face the charges,"
he said. "It is not a payable cita-
tion. The fact that the kid won't be
arrested or booked will or could
lead many to not take the charge
as seriously as in years past and a
conviction for drug possession will
seriously harm their career and
job prospects."
ing and court processes, but it
might end up having the opposite
effect.
the number of people spending
the night or day in jail on marijua-
na possession," he said. "I think it
could seriously lead to a large
number of out-of-state residents
who fail to appear in court and are
issued bench warrants, or they
show up unprepared and don't
realize it's serious and jailable."
tial for an increase in failure to
appear cases and bench warrants
for out-of-state defendants who
were issued a citation instead of
being arrested. However, he said
OCPD officers will have broad dis-
have been in place for a year,
Worcester County officials on
Monday will officially dedicate
a portion of the service road
along Route 50 as Samuel
Bowen Boulevard, a former
Stephen Decatur graduate who
died while serving in the Army
in Iraq in 2004.
missioners on Monday will for-
mally dedicate the section of
the service road along Route
50 near the Wal-Mart and
Home Depot as Samuel Bow-
en Boulevard. Bowen, a 1983
Stephen Decatur graduate,
died on July 7, 2004, when his
convoy came under attack by
insurgents in a small town
north of Baghdad. Bowen was
a former member of the U.S.
Army when he re-enlisted as a
member of the 216th Ohio Na-
tional Guard Engineer Battal-
ion.
pulled several wounded com-
rades to safety during a gre-
nade attack. On Monday, the
ceremony is set for 2 p.m. at
the boulevard's intersection
with the Wal-Mart parking ar-
eas.
named long-time city employee
Tom Stevenson as Interim city
administrator after current City
Administrator John Pick an-
nounced his pending retire-
ment last week.
and Code Compliance Depart-
ment, has been a city employ-
ee since 1988 and has nearly
25 years of public service ex-
perience with Salisbury. Ste-
venson currently chairs the
Neighborhood Services Task
Force and also serves as the
secretary to the Salisbury His-
toric District Commission. He
also sits on various other
boards and commissions in-
cluding the Mayor's Safe
Streets Coalition.
Maryland Municipal League
and is president of the Mary-
land Code Enforcement and
Zoning Officers Association
and is a member of the Amer-
ican Association of Code En-
forcement. Under Stevenson's
direction, Salisbury has been
able to advance numerous leg-
islative initiatives including the
partnership with Maryland
DNR that led to the removal of
abandoned barges from the
North Prong of the Wicomico
River, and he also led the city's
efforts in the successful razing
of the notorious Thrift Travel