Announced via press release:

Today, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball released the following statement regarding recent public safety concerns:

“I am deeply saddened by any loss of life, particularly in our county and I pray that our community will be guided by our better nature to come together as one.

Amid recent events, as much of the media and social media attention has gone to the heartbreaking news out of Woodbine earlier this week, many have come to us with questions. Currently, the Howard County Police Department is conducting an ongoing investigation. I have the utmost confidence in both our Police and in State’s Attorney Rich Gibson to handle this delicate situation with care and professionalism.

As we await more information, I encourage all our residents to be patient and empathetic during this difficult and trying time. We will continue to prioritize the safety of all and maintain the shared values of our community.

In moments like this, we can allow division to grow or we can choose to embrace our shared humanity and our daily commitment to public safety, civility and compassion.”

###

Obviously this is related to the following items:

While I appreciate our County Executive’s comments on this…it is far from the only safety concerns we have had reported locally recently…Here are a few other items reported on this blog:

Seriously those are just a few recent articles on crime stuff happening around Howard County. There are a great many others I have reported on through 2019…which does not cover everything that has happened in 2019 via the HCPD crime log.

I hope our CE and HCPD Chief does some type of outreach and statement on the happenings around Howard County in the near future. I do not know the exact numbers of crime stats in 2019…but I do watch the crime log…and see the various press releases…and it “feels” not great at the moment with some of the stuff reported (to me)…I may be wrong…the data may prove that…and I hope it does…but if not…we need to know what the plan is going forward.

There was a major infuse of money into the Fire Department in the latest budget…do we need the same for the Police Department now? These are questions I am asking.

I also want to give this input on this specific topic…unless we hear something significant reported in this case (we have been given some info from the doorbell camera)…Howard County State’s Attorney Rich Gibson will face a big backlash on prosecuting this homeowner…that…I am sure at the time…felt like he was protecting his family at 1 am…while a drunk individual was trying to break into their home (that is not in dispute). I am sad someone had to lose their life in this incident…but seriously…come to my home at 1 am…and try and break to my home in while telling me you are going to Fu@@ me up…I am having a really hard time taking that persons side in this incident. People need to be able to protect themselves in their homes…so unless I hear something else…I understand why the homeowner did what he did and he should not be prosecuted in any way. That is how I feel on this right now but will continue to follow this as new information is reported.

On the upside…my “door bell” cameras arrive today…I will have multiple ones that will be installed in the front and back of this house. Friends and I talked last night about the fact that these cameras will probably become standard in all homes as part of new home development and sold as a feature of the home. That is kind of the world we live in (at least what we felt last night after talking about the stuff happening around Howard County).

Have thoughts…let me know in the comments.

Scott E