Buzzuro explained why he believes
Ocean City is a safe place to live
and visit and what he plans to do to
keep it that way.
property locally for years,
but his roots are in the Bal-
timore City Police Depart-
ment, where he began in
1985 and worked his way
through the ranks to be-
come lieutenant colonel in
2007. He was selected by
the Mayor and Council in
June, and his tenure be-
gan on a sad note, as he
was sworn in one day after
two members of the Ocean
City Police Department were killed
in an off-duty plane crash off Ocean
City.
several high-profile crime incidents
in Ocean City. In a roundtable dis-
cussion with The Dispatch this
week, Buzzuro, along with Public In-
formation Officer Mike Levy, outlin-
ed how his urban background and
experience with video surveillance
and intelligence gathering will bene-
fit the town in addressing general
safety concerns.
scene involving two fallen Ocean
City police officers in late June.
That occurred one day before
you were sworn in as the new
chief. What are your reflections
on that experience two months
later?
bly be brought in.' I look at
it conversely. It wasn't the
best time, but it was most
the ideal time for me as a
leader of the agency to
come on board. That tra-
gedy called for leadership,
and I had to hit the ground
running. For me, it was a
time that I could come in
and galvanize the depart-
ment together in such a
from a crime perspective as well
as a public relations standpoint.
Last week you came before the
Mayor and Council to present
crime statistics for July and out-
lined the fact calls for service and
many other key numbers were
down. There have been concerns
that the crime report is not re-
flecting the reality and that crime
is more of an issue than the data
indicates. How do you interpret
those numbers?
Our crime statistics are our primary
gauges, and they measure our
effectiveness and the health of the
town. It's subjective. It's not perfect,
but for us it gives a pretty good indi-
cation of where we are currently and
if we are going in the right direction.
There's talk about less population,
but in any type of survey or study
you can be off several percent
either way. For us, for me, it's look-
ing at those numbers and they are
indications for us to see how we are
doing, how we are deployed and
how we are strategizing.
service that are up and citizen calls
for service are down. That's where
we want them. I want the officers to
be proactive and I want them to go
out there and maximize their time
on the street. Those indicators are
showing that's happening. That
along with calls for service going
down and crime being reduced by
11 percent, last year we were up 5
percent, ... for me, I say there's a lot
of work to be done but we are mov-
ing in the right direction.
light this summer as far as safety
concerns. You have spoken a-
bout surveillance and intelli-
gence enhancements on the hori-
zon. Can you detail specifically
what you have in mind?