Harford Sheriff Gahler Claims County Executive Trying To Defund Police

HARFORD COUNTY, MD — Sheriff Jeff Gahler appears to be at odds with Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office posted on its Facebook page that plans for a new precinct building have been placed on hold, prompting Gahler to accuse the county executive of defunding the police.

"Our community needs this precinct and training center yesterday, not tomorrow, and whenever it's built it will cost more later," Gahler said.

The plan to renovate a county-owned building on Technology Drive near Aberdeen and convert it into a precinct and training center for new deputies, priced at $22 million, was approved by the former County Council and county executive. Construction was to start this year. The building previously served as Harford County Community College's HEAT Center.

"This is not about raising taxes," Gahler said. "I think we're going to hear that from the county executive. 'Ah, you're going to make me raise taxes.' No, we're not. That money was already put into the budget on a capital project."

At Tuesday's budget work session, Major Lee Dunbar, bureau chief of the services and support division, told the County Council that not only was the project approved, but the county has already made significant investments in design, engineering and permitting.

"I should be discussing the progress made on this project versus trying to get it off the ground, which we've been doing for the last five or six months," Dunbar said. "We have all of our engineering done, all of our architectural designs done, as well as permitting."

During the meeting, both Gahler and Dunbar emphasized that the new training facility and the creation of a central precinct are necessary for the police department.

"We do not have a precinct in that area for our deputies to operate out of and respond from. You can imagine the response times in this busiest part of the county. Seventy-three percent of the calls for service when deputies have an arrest for a DUI or drugs, they have to travel all the way back to the Southern Precinct," Dunbar told the County Council.

WJZ spoke with Cassilly on the subject.

"I came into this office four months ago," Cassilly told WJZ. "This was a project that was set up and I just put a hold on it while I get my stuff together and evaluate where we are financially."

Cassilly has previously expressed concern about raising taxes and noted that there are other projects that must be funded in the budget, including hiring new EMS workers since the county is switching from volunteer to paid EMS workers.

"What can we reasonably afford?" Cassilly said. "And, if we want to afford that then we're going to have to raise taxes quite, frankly, because we don't have the money left."

The sheriff told WJZ he plans to meet with each member of the County Council to gauge their support for the planned precinct and training center. The County Council will vote on the budget next month.