By Heather Cobun
Carroll County Times
WESTMINSTER, Md. — Sheriff Jim DeWees plans to treat deputies who work in the Carroll County Detention Center more like those patrolling the roads and began taking steps to do that by asking legislators to extend correctional deputies the same rights when a complaint is filed against them.
When a complaint is made against a law enforcement officer, he or she is given notice of the complaint, a scheduled interview and an opportunity to get a lawyer, DeWees said. After a punishment is handed down, it can be appealed to a board of the officer’s peers.
As the rules stand, a complaint against a correctional officer means he or she can be sat down and interviewed on the spot and there is no appeals process.
On Jan. 6, Warden George Hardinger asked the Carroll County delegation to the General Assembly to amend legislation to give correctional officers working at the local detention center those rights.
DeWees said it was important to him as he began his tenure as Carroll County’s sheriff to make sure the deputies working at the detention center felt like equals.
Retirement and compensation for the correctional officers is not only less than their counterparts patrolling the county’s roads, it’s also well below what correction officers in surrounding counties make, according to DeWees.
“The current commissioners are aware of the gap, and I will work with them over the next four years to reduce it,” he said.
DeWees said he sees the warden and the correctional officers as equals and wants to see them treated that way.
“It’s a quality staff of people,” he said. “Their job is very difficult. It’s very unusual.”
Extending due process rights to correctional officers is another part of that goal.
“To me, it was a no-brainer to see that they were afforded the same rights,” he said.
Currently, Hardinger said, he can terminate officers and they have nowhere to appeal their punishment.
Under the changed policy, the officer can request a trial board of their peers from other agencies be convened to review the case, Hardinger said. The final say in what the disciplinary action will be then goes to DeWees.
DeWees said he would look at the case from beginning to end and determine whether the punishment was appropriate.
The change would not prevent DeWees from getting rid of problem employees, which has not been an issue at the detention center, but rather will make sure that if an employee is disciplined or even fired, they were afforded due process, he said.
Once a law enforcement or correctional officer is fired, it is reported to the Maryland Public Safety and Correctional Training Commission, DeWees said.
That officer will not be able to work in their field in Maryland again, so DeWees said he wants to be sure he is doing the right thing when he takes someone’s livelihood.
“We hold these correctional deputies accountable for the things that they do,” he said.
DeWees said he could change the disciplinary policy on his own without legislation, but it would only be in effect while he is sheriff.
Hardinger said DeWees’ goal of having a new policy cemented in law shows how seriously he is taking the issue of parity between correctional officers and road deputies.
“It’s certainly been a morale booster,” Hardinger said.
Del. Susan Krebs, R-District 5, said she had concerns initially when she heard the phrase “Correctional Officers Bill of Rights” because that bill, which applies to state correctional officers, was in part blamed for a 2013 scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center.
Dozens were indicted after it became apparent that a national gang had been smuggling drugs and cellphones into the jail and inmates had been having sex with guards. The Correctional Officer Bill of Rights, according to its critics, made it difficult to discipline the offending officers.
Krebs said she voiced her concerns when Hardinger brought the amendment forward and he answered her questions, assuring her what he and DeWees were asking for was not the same.
Hardinger said he and DeWees crafted the amendment to mirror the bill of rights for local law enforcement officers.
“It gives them a little due process,” Krebs said.
Del. Justin Ready, R-District 5, said the Carroll County delegation gives a lot of latitude to the agencies requesting legislation.
“Obviously, I’m not an expert on law enforcement, so I trust their judgment,” he said.