Sheriff outlines recruitment, training and school 'panic button' plans at PAB meeting

Calvert County’s sheriff delivered a quarterly update to the Police Accountability Board on June 28, outlining recruitment efforts, training programs, detention-center services and a proposed panic‑button system for schools.

Why it matters: The sheriff described both day‑to‑day operational numbers and steps the office says it is taking to reduce harm — from increased training and district staffing to school safety measures — items the board said it will track as part of its oversight work.

The sheriff said the office answered about 26,185 calls for service in the quarter, issued roughly 1,500 traffic citations, responded to about 431 traffic accidents and made approximately 78 DUI arrests. "The calls for service is 26,185 just in this quarter," the sheriff said, adding that traffic warnings numbered about 8,500. He singled out distracted driving as a leading cause of accidents and urged residents to pay attention while driving.

On recruitment, the sheriff said vacancies are low and the office maintains a waiting list of candidates. He described existing pipelines — the Tri‑County academy, local criminal‑justice classes and an explorer program for younger participants — as sources for future hires. An online participant asked about percentage targets; the sheriff and a major described explorer and cadet‑style pathways and noted Maryland requires age 21 for sworn officer status, with some roles available earlier.

The sheriff highlighted training as a primary focus. He described mandatory in‑service requirements set by the state (18 hours annually) and local efforts including crisis intervention training, advanced tactics, driver and situational shooting practice, implicit‑bias and ethics instruction, and roll‑call training. "De‑escalation is huge, and we've actually seen a reduction" in use‑of‑force incidents, he said.

On detention‑center programs, the sheriff reported intensive outreach programs (IOP), GED completion by detainees (38 GEDs in five years) and a substantial portion of the detention population experiencing mental‑health needs; he urged more state and local funding for mental‑health services rather than incarceration where appropriate.

For school safety, the sheriff described a panic‑button system that would be tied directly to 911 dispatch and said his recommendation is for every staff member to have access. He stressed that adoption and deployment depend on school‑board and superintendent decisions and technical implementation.

The sheriff also said the office is pursuing accreditation work described in the meeting transcript (corrected in this report to CALEA, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies), and that staff expect an intensive review process. "We're on pace to make it happen pretty soon," he said.

The board did not take formal action on the sheriff’s report; members asked follow‑up questions about recruitment pipelines, training mandates and the school‑system decision process. The sheriff said citizens can file complaints with the sheriff’s office or the PAB if they feel mistreated.

What’s next: The board will include the sheriff’s staffing, training and safety proposals in its ongoing oversight and trending work and will discuss public outreach sessions scheduled in July and August.