Sheriff's Office in Eldersburg to Expand in Size and Services

In order to be more visible and fight crime more effectively and proactively, the Carroll County Sheriff's Office is expanding its Eldersburg office, according to a Sheriff's representative.

Col. Phil Kasten said that currently, there is a small office on the back side of the Eldersburg branch library that Sheriffs and state Troopers work from but it's not tied into all the Sheriff's Office computer systems and booking procedures cannot be done on site. 

"As you recall we had a couple of high profile crimes that occurred in the Eldersburg area this past year, an aggrevated assault as well as 2 homicides," Kasten told Patch. "We want to increase our visibility in the community."

At the same time that the Sheriff's Office was looking at ways to become more visible and expand services, the county was undergoing a facility and space needs study, according to Kasten. He added that the library was looking to reclaim the space being used by the Sheriff's Office. 

"The suggestion [the Sheriff's Office] made to the commissioners was to move that satellite space from behind the library and into the Rt. 26 coridor where we can be highly visible,"Kasten said. 

In April, the board of Carroll County Commissioners voted to dedicate $60,000 in the fiscal year 2014 budget to the new satellite office. 

The current space is approximately 1,000 square feet and Kasten said they were approved to expand to about 2,500 square feet. With the additional space, the Sheriff's Office will be able to do more in the community and spend less time commuting to other satellite offices.  

"The expansion will allow us to locate some key reosources in Eldersburg that right now require deputies and troopers to come to the Westminster office to get done, particularly to drop or submit evidence as well as processing juveniles," Kasten said. 

In addition, the new office will have interview rooms and recording equipment, space to meet with members of the public and access to the computerized agency reporting system. 

"We lose an hour in drive time when an officer has to come out of that area into Westminster and that's not even considering rush hour traffic," Kasten said. "We want to keep those people in that area as much as we can while increasing their presence." 

Kasten said they are in the process of looking at different locations and although nothing has been settled on, they are focusing on the business area of Rt. 26 where "we'll be visible to the public, the business community and the criminal element." 

Kasten said it's hard to be definitive but he's hoping they will start to finalize plans in the fall and be able to make the move by the end of the year.  

There are about 30 officers between Sheriffs and State Troopers assigned to the Eldersburg area, according to Kasten.

There will be no administrative personnel there and according to Kasten, not enough funding to operate a comprehensive district station. The facility will be a working space for police officers assigned to the Eldersburg area. 

Do you think a more visible police station will help curb crime in Eldersburg? Tell us in comments. Also, any suggestions on a location?