Unlocked Doors the Target of Majority of Carroll County Crime, Sheriff Says

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office has seen a 75 percent increase of reported calls into the office since taking over local calls from the Westminster Maryland State Police Barrack. 

The greatest number of crimes sheriff officials see have happened to people who keep their cars, homes and sheds unlocked, with 540 of the 1,284 criminal offenses being thefts and 50 percent of those cases being thefts from unlocked doors, according to Carroll County Sheriff's Office Administrative Services Chief Major Phil Kasten. 

Kasten's comments came during a Carroll County Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday, where the Sheriff's Office gave an update on how the transition is working in the county so far after its first six months. 

The three-year transition process started on July 1, 2011 when the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office started responding to a majority of 911 calls, taking more responsibility for local incidents over troopers from the Maryland State Police Westminster Barrack. 

, will save the county more than $3.7 million over a three-year period, according to Commissioner Doug Howard.

Sheriff’s deputies over the last sixth months had 8,536 calls for service, an average of 47 calls per day, according to Kasten. The volume of calls is up 50 percent from an average of 20 calls per day prior to the July 1 transition, he said.

The Maryland State Police Westminster Barrack now receives an average of 15 calls per day after the first six months of the transition.

The number of calls reported excludes traffic stops and any proactive assistance including local festivals. 

The new transitional agreement applies to Carroll County-owned or operated institutions and facilities, county-owned roadways, and residential areas excluding incorporated municipalities.

“We’ve made some adjustments in the communication center as well,” said Kasten. “It’s helping to reduce response time for the Sheriff’s Office. We’ve been able to bring down our overall response time from 13 minutes down to 11 minutes.”

In addition, to combat the number of thefts from homes and cars, the office is currently working on the second run of a doorknocker program, where a printed reminder will be hung from the doorknob of houses in neighborhoods that are at an increased risk of theft.

Carroll County Sheriff Ken Tregoning said unlocked doors is a major issue in the county, and a tough one to stop saying, “it’s a common sense issue, how do you teach common sense?”

The sheriff's office is also taking over the monitoring of registered sex offenders and will start organizing the local D.A.R.E. program to give kids the skills they need to avoid involvement with drugs, gangs, and violence.

“After the third year we will respond to the majority of calls in our jurisdiction on state roads,” said Tregoning. “The Maryland State Police will stand by till we get there. We are indebted to your decision and providing us with the resources to go through with this transition,” he said to the Board of Commissioners Thursday.

An on site assessment of the transition by the local agencies will occur on April 15.