Police Group Demands Apology From Councilwoman About ICE Sighting

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — The Howard County Police Officers' Association, Inc. has demanded an apology from Howard County Councilwoman Liz Walsh for a social media post she made saying an ICE operation was unfolding in Columbia Jan. 21 that the association says was untrue and compromised police work.

In a letter addressed Jan. 26, the association said that Walsh's post saying ICE activity was underway in the county interfered with an undercover police operation targeting child predators.

Walsh, who represents District 1, said she saw an operation involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Oakland Mills area of Columbia. Walsh told WBAL she's concerned about ICE activity in Howard County and has not received clear answers from police or ICE about other activity in the area that day.

She posted on Facebook: "We're hearing that there is an ICE operation happening in Howard County by the Verona Apartments in Oakland Mills, behind the village center. They expect a bus from Thunder Hill Elementary School to be the target. LA Mart and the elementary school have been notified. Please stay safe folks."

"We got in this silly Facebook post contest about whether ICE was even in the community, and that was a complete distraction. In my point of view, Chief Der, to this day, has not validated whether or not the photographs that we have from that day at Oakland Mills in that location were or were not his officers. That's a problem to me," Walsh told WBAL about the situation.

According to the letter from the police association, Howard County officers were engaged in a three-day covert operation targeting online child solicitation in the 9500 block of Transfer Row in Oakland Mills.

The president of the police association, Jamie Flynn, wrote that statements like Walsh's social media post "creates foreseeable risk to officers and the public."

Flynn also asked if Walsh is "standing with the police protecting this community, or with the criminals we are trying to stop?"

"The goal of proactive operations like this is to make clear that this type of activity will not be tolerated in Howard County. Predators seeking to harm children should be warned to stay out of this jurisdiction. Members of the operation were wearing ballistic vests clearly marked 'Howard County Police,' as is the HCPD's standard practice. At no time was any other law enforcement agency — local, state or federal — involved in this operation. Any speculation otherwise is incorrect," the letter penned by Flynn stated.

"It's also important to note that while HCPD officers are clearly marked, there are many other law enforcement agencies who routinely operate in Howard County, serving search warrants and investigating multijurisdictional crimes — including Maryland State Police, other county police departments, the FBI, etc. The HCPD is often not notified of these activities and cannot impact the attire of those officers," the letter continued.

The police association asked that Walsh take these actions:

• An immediate public correction clarifying that the activity was a Howard County Police child-exploitation operation
• Removal of the original misleading post.
• A public acknowledgement of the risks created by releasing unverified law enforcement information.
• A commitment to verify future posts about enforcement activity through proper law enforcement channels.
• A formal statement acknowledging your support of every single Howard County Police Officer who protect this community from dangerous criminal predators, whom you attempted to protect.

The Howard County Police Department did receive a report of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Columbia Saturday morning, which officials confirmed on Facebook.

The police department received a call about a person being removed from a vehicle and taken away from the area of Route 175 near Tamar Drive in Columbia. Officers arrived at the location and spoke with witnesses about the incident, Patch reported previously.

"At this time, HCPD can report that this was the first confirmed ICE activity known to police. There is no additional information about the driver or the reason he was taken into custody. Howard County police will always respond to any 911 call in which public or personal safety is in question. These are all the details available to HCPD at this time," the police department stated online.