"Joe,
I've read many of your postings regarding Chief Webster of the Salisbury Police Department and have had an unsettling experience with their detectives myself. My question today is, Why don't the police respond to a resident who is actively witnessing a drug transaction?
A friend of mine is trying to rid themselves of drug activity, but when she calls the police, they do nothing. They act as if she is bothering them with the reported activity. I don't understand. Should I advise her to call Sheriff Lewis or do they only handle issues outside of city limits?
Confused Citizen"
Well Concerned Citizen, that's a good question. My only answer at this time is, Salisbury is in Wicomico County and you have every right to call the Sheriff's Department. I'd add, contact Davis Ruark as well. After all, he is in charge of all the Police Agencies in Wicomico County.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
42 comments:
I guess we need to contact Davis Ruark also for the tenants in Delmar because the police hardly ever responds to calls from tenants that live in Chestnut Manor Apartments on East Chestnut Street pertaining to the drug activity and fights. Its an open air drug market.
Until we can get a police force and chief interested in doing their job call the sheriffs office. He will kick a$$ and take numbers.
We owned a cleaning service a few years ago. Someone broke in a door on the other end of the building and rifled a desk/office. We called the police all they wanted to do was take down our infomation. I had just cleaned an entrance door glass and there was a perfect set of fingerprints on the glass. They said no need of taking the prints. Thats the last we heard. I dont think it was even written up. some police force.
iam so glad someone put this story on the blog about chestnut manor. the delmar police is worth less. they do nothing to stop drug activity.they must be affraid or on the take. worth less
We have called the Salisbury Police because of thefts in a local business. They usually wait long enough for the criminals to leave, then they show up to take a report.
They are afraid of the criminals.
I do not believe that Mike Lewis would appreciate the fact that someone would say the he works for Davis Ruark. That is just not true and needs to be corrected. Mike Lewis is an elected official.
What about the house of ill repute on Baker and Martin st. Habitat is trying to rebuild the neighborhood and the police know about the house. Is the landlord responsible or liable?
ya a friend of mine had someone in a huge truck do donuts in both the front and back yard leaving huge rutts and major damage so bad the yard needs grading. Cops were called and acted like they were being bothered by the situation. My friend ID'ed the truck during the incident and found where he lived with obvious markings all over the truck with chunks of my buddys yard all over it LOL. They just do not care. I had a theft of my car once as well and they told me they couldnt do a thing except write a report and they didnt advise doing it, but i still had them come out and they were obviously irritated.
the story should read
What do the Delmar Police do?
Anonymous said...
We have called the Salisbury Police because of thefts in a local business. They usually wait long enough for the criminals to leave, then they show up to take a report.
They are afraid of the criminals.
4:03 PM
They are soooooo short handed! They more than likely are not intentionally waiting for them to leave. It is easier to arrest someone in the act rather than wait and have to investigate later!
4:06 --
Correct. Davis Ruark is not -- repeat not -- "in charge" of the police in Salisbury or the Wicomico County Sheriff's Department. This is not to say he does not work closely with them and furnish certain guidance.
3:15 You don't know what you are talking about. Both the police and fire depts do nothing but handle calls at the Chestnut Manor Apartments. If you see something when they are not there CALL. Stop acting like your Delmar's best citizen.
Unfortunately, drugs and crime are obviously rampantly spinning out of control throughout our city and county. While the city police should respond to any 911 call, they must prioritize calls in order of importance. Witnessing a drug transaction, which is unfortunately an everyday occurrence, is not a priority call. Further, an anonymous call is not grounds for probable cause to search a suspect. It is RAS (Reasonable Articulable Suspicion) for stopping, identifying, and developing probable cause for a search. Further, within the city jurisdiction, they handle all city calls for service. The Sheriff's Office, although has concurrent jurisdiction with the city officers, don't routinely respond to calls for service within the city limits. In fact, the county sheriff's office stresses to it's personnel to handle enforcement actions within the county for the most part (this is no big secret as it has been the unofficial policy for years). The Salisbury Police do plenty. They respond to probably four times more calls for service than the county daily. The county has become exponentially busier however statistically, the city runs more calls for service within a months period than the county (and we mean actual calls for service). So, city cops work their butts off. Unfortunately, it's still not enough to curb the crime rate because very little is being done proactively either at the city or county levels. Davis Ruark is not in charge of any police department in actuality nor are they required to comply with his directives or requests on how to run their departments. He is the head "procurator" for the county. Therefore, if the police departments want convictions and prosecutions of their cases, it behoves them to listen to what Davis has to say.
Bear in mind, Davis Ruark is also an elected political official, just like Sheriff Mike Lewis. Ruark and Lewis bumped heads when Ruark was arrested for DUI and having a loaded firearm with him while operating a county vehicle. Lewis advised that he should step down (resign) and rightfully so. Yet he still runs an office that prosecutes DUI's on a routine basis. We do not support Davis Ruark for re-election.
WELL if they did something about the drugs at chestnut manor they would not have any calls at all. think about that.the delmar's best needs to do there job and don't blame the good citizen for trying to do there job for them. holy hell is going to brake out, one of these days. just wait and see
delmar po po do your darn job thats what you get payed for not us
Salisbury Police Department isn't a real police department. Like poster 5:11 wrote, they respond from call to call writing reports. They have neither the manpower of technologies in-house to be a legitimate proactive agency. Hell, they don't even have the most basic of crime labs. I am doubtful, however, that this poster, while obviously a police officer, has a hand in prioritizing calls. I'll bet the last donut in the box that the majority of calls being responded to are after-the-fact property crimes. If he's suggesting a drug transaction in progress isn't more important than responding to a property or nuisance crime which has already occurred, he's kidding himself. There's no possible way Salisbury's police officers are bouncing the entire shift from one class 1 crime to another. And even if you respond to a citizen's complaint for a possible drug transaction in progress, identifying the parties involved and completing a field interrogation report (FIR), that's assuming Salisbury PD even has any semblance of an intelligence gathering officer/unit, is still more important than rushing to write the next crimes against property report.
4:17pm- why would the landlord be responsible for someone else's actions? It may be a house of ill repute, as you put it, but if they pay their rent, it's going to be hard for a landlord to evict. I'm so tired of people putting responsiblity off on others. The responsibility lies with the people who live in/operate the house of ill repute.
And to the original poster- by the time the police would get to wherever your friend is to observe the drug transaction, it would be over. Don't think for a second that as soon as a police car enters the area these dealers won't disperse- because they will. They have look outs and ways of communicating what's going on. My advice is to continue to report the activity. It is very likely that they are doing an undercover operation.
And no, I'm not an officer, I don't know any officers, I'm not an attorney, and I'm not a landlord. Just a regular tax paying citizen.
Been there,done that.When the scumbags saw the patrol car they scattered and the cruiser,well,it cruised right on through.I moved because I had a small child and I was afraid that I would become a target in retaliation for my calling the cops on the criminals.If its an understaffing issue,someone at the top needs to throw some money their way so they can recruit,train and retain their ranks.
If Davis Ruark is in charge of the police departments then obviously it's all his fault. Blame Ruark, not Webster or anyone else.
can someone please answer this if your in county limits can sby police arrest you and than call the sheriff to take you to jail?
Listening to the scanner it seems the police have to respond to quite a few calls to secure a scene before the fire/ems will continue in.
9:22 yes they can, stop doing drugs and they would not locked you up.
9:22 Salisbury police officers only have jurisdiction within the incorporated limits of Salisbury. They do not have police powers throughout Wicomico County. Conversely, Wicomico County deputies have arrest powers throughout Wicomico County. State troopers have police powers throughout the entire state of Maryland.
i also work in retail and we have a bad theft problem at our store but 9 times out of 10 sby shows up when we call them and they get them i think they do a great job!!
i thought delmar was a quiet little town lol
I just heard about the shore stop on mt herman road. salisbury is turning into baltimore city. I feel for anyone that has to have a job at a gas station we better get the bullett proof glass out.
10:27 PM
The Salisbury Police Dept more than likely has a mutual aid agreement with the Sheriff's Office that allows them to respond to calls for service in the county if needed. In the event that a person needs to be arrested during a mutual aid call, the Salisbury Police Department Has more than the authority (from the agreement which is allowed under state law) needed to arrest that person and process such arrest themselves.. though in most instances they would probably turn the arrest over to the Sheriff's Office when they can respond.
MSP Actually only has the duty and authority to respond to calls in un-incorporated areas of the State unless they are requested to respond by the incorporated areas police department... with the exception that they may perform traffic enforcement anywhere in the state and may initiate drug investigations anywhere in the state. Read article 88b...
Unfortunately, listening to the scanner, it appears that Salisbury P.D. Officers spend a great deal of time responding to 911 hang-up calls. People need to teach their kids and family to stop doing that if there is not an emergency.
What a way to live. Anytime you have to move out of fear for your family's safety that is truly sad. Why is it that all this crime goes unreported to the public? You ask most ppl about life on the shore and they tell you how its "God's Country", how there is low crime and just overall how great everything is and how friendly all its residents are. After being here for 3 yrs I can tell you that all of that is a HUGE farce. If locals here took the "blinders" off for a short time they might be afraid of what is left. All this unreported crime isnt going to go away until you actually have REAL jobs for ppl and stop all the gang and drug activity. The police are overworked but as I have found with many of the local workers, laziness is very prominent around here. People here just dont care. Its rednecktastic.
5:42 You don't even know what types of calls they respond to there. That part of town has just as many issues as others.
Too bad some of you actually have no clue about how the Police work.
Salisbury police CAN respond to any crime that they witness or are requested to. That means, if they for some unknown reason end up in Easton (coming back from a class or something), and they see someone doing 100+ on Route 50, they surely can stop them. Many times, they won't respond outside of the town limits unless requested. There was a new bill passed a few years ago that gave municipal authorities statewide powers.
I've had pretty good responce time regarding the reporting of drug dealers in my neighborhood.
what happen at the shore stop? i missed that one
Anon 10:27 MSP has authority to enforce laws anywhere in the state at their own disgretion.
I think Salisbury City and Wicomico County should review the home security false alarm numbers. Fine the violators who have more than one false alrm in a six month period. They could fund a cruiser and an extra officer.
95% of all home burglar alarms responded to are false alrms. Operator error or electronic issues. These alarm companies are making a fortune. They should be held accountable if not the home owner.
If you listen to the scanner the same business alrms go off all the time. It is a great waste of resource. make the company making the income respond. I bet that would fix the issue real quick.
Hand to hand deals lol This anony is a wanker. SPD can only do so much with 4 or 5 on duty lol. Sounds like the same person who said she is a student who site on the porch late at night after class watching SPD officers drive through red lights. Complaining to Joe and not the proper people. Wanker!
I think the main reason for this story is for the so call lazy a$$ delmar police department. you need to wake the hell up and see what's going on in your town
That was not the ONLY reason I moved,but most of it!
8:10 I'll await the cite which states police officers outside their jurisdictions can effect traffic stops and legally write tickets. Now I'm not talking about a violation that occurs in the officer's jurisdiction but the stop can't be made until they're outside the jurisdiction.
6:00 The issue was police powers. White the state police will not routinely patrol the streets of Baltimore City unless requested to do so by the mayor of Baltimore, if a trooper is in Baltimore City, on or off-duty, and he witnesses a crime, he has the authority to make an arrest. A Salisbury officer in Delmar or Baltimore City is simply another citizen.
Actually ANY police officer in this state can make an arrest for a felony regardless of what agency they work for and whether they are on or off duty. and regardless of what jurisdiction they are in. Amazing you people are cops and don't even know your abilities.
joe, it was on the scanner tonight that the royal farms was robbed on dykes rd have you herd anything about that?
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