Harford sheriff to send mobile precinct to site of Aberdeen shooting

By Matthew Santoni
Examiner Staff Writer 8/26/08

Harford County Sheriff L. Jesse Bane wants his office’s mobile precinct unit at the the Perrywood Gardens Apartments outside Aberdeen. HARFORD COUNTY – An increasing gang presence and a recent near-fatal shooting in the Perrywood Gardens Apartments outside Aberdeen have made the area the next target for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff L. Jesse Bane said he would put his office’s mobile precinct unit there in September as the centerpiece of a safe zone initiative similar to one that concluded July 22 in Edgewood.
“There has been a shift in the concentration of gang activity in the county, and it is not focused in Edgewood,” Bane said.
“We know we’ve moved gang members out of Edgewood to other areas of the county, and we know some have concentrated in the Perrywood Gardens and Aberdeen areas.”
The Safe Zones initiative, modeled on a Baltimore City program, uses the camper-sized mobile precinct as a base for intensified police patrols and stepped-up law enforcement.
Bane said other operations would take place in the area but didn’t disclose specifics, because he did not want to compromise any ongoing investigations.
“We’re not trying to create a police state, but there are good people living in Perrywood Gardens and we are trying to protect their quality of life,” Bane said.
In Edgewood, the increased patrol presence led to three warrants being served, five arrests, 10 traffic stops, 11 peace orders served and seven domestic disputes being broken up, said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Monica Worrell.
But the decrease in crime appeared to last after the police left, Worrell said.
“It’s holding its own,” said Maj. John Dennison, head of the police services bureau. “We’ve seen no spikes in calls for service after we left.”
The move for more police presence comes after a 36-year-old Edgewood woman was shot and seriously wounded Sunday morning in the 200 block of Perrywood Court, said Sgt. David Betz.
msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com

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