The Calvert County Neighborhood Watch program meets the second Monday of every other month at the Prince Frederick Holiday Inn. Their July 11 meeting, which was conducted by three members of local law enforcement—Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans [R], Sgt. Mike Bomgardner of the sheriff’s office and Greg Cameron, a retired Maryland State Police (MSP) lieutenant who recently joined the sheriff’s office as a special investigator—included discussion of the upcoming National Night Out.
Calvert’s Neighborhood Watch is coordinated by the sheriff’s office, MSP and Calvert Alliance Against Substance Abuse Inc. (CAASA) and provides a forum at which residents of participating communities may interact with law enforcement and discuss ongoing investigations, crime trends and police activity.
National Night Out encourages residents of participating communities to get out of their homes and interact with neighbors, police and other county officials who visit the special two-to-three hour gathering.
National Night Out 2011 will be held Tuesday, Aug. 2. The following Calvert County communities and locations will host parties this year: Calvert Pines Senior Center, Carroll Western United Methodist Church, Chapline Place, Chesapeake Ranch Estates, Chippingwood, Kenwood Beach, Long Beach/Calvert Beach, Patuxent Palisades/Shores of Calvert, Prince Frederick Village Apartments/Prince Frederick Senior Apartments/Calvertown Townhouses, Symphony Woods, Town of North Beach, Turtle Creek and Western Shores.
Bomgardner said many of the communities have requested demonstrations by K-9 units but there are only so many officers with the trained police dogs to go around. “We’re going to do what we can,” he said.
Other popular components of police work, such as vehicles, Special Operations Team equipment and the sheriff’s office’s Bear Cat, which is used as a teaching tool to discourage driving under the influence, will also be on display at the various National Night Out venues.
Other issues discussed at the July 11 meeting included law enforcement’s efforts to monitor gang activity. Cameron reported that on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, gangs from St. Mary’s County are coming across the bridge to hang out in Solomons.
Just being a gang member is not a crime. However, Cameron indicated some of the youths in the south end of Calvert may be the perpetrators of several spray-painting/vandalism incidents, including one that occurred recently in the Drum Point subdivision.
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