Charles County Sheriff, Rex Coffey announced the expansion of the County’s Marine Patrols on Tuesday, Aug. 10 at a joint gathering in Smallwood State Park before a multijurisdictional law enforcement group of interested parties. At the announcement, Coffey introduced the County’s newest additions to the Maritime Strategic Security unit – a 28 foot Zodiak and a 25-foot Sea Ark.
Both vessels are designed to provide quick response to incidents or tactical emergencies. They are equipped with state-of-the-art electronics that allows for communications with all agencies. The vessels are designed to allow officers more access to the waterways for longer period of times.
“The expansion of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office marine patrol services will be a valuable resource for law enforcement, emergency responders and Charles County,” said Coffey. “The broad base of expertise that comes with the new alliance will greatly enhance the Sheriff’s Office marine patrol services which will cover nearly 200 square miles of Charles County waterways.”
As described, the Marine unit will be a multi-disciplinary unit that will leverage and blend existing resources and capabilities to form a unique maritime response group comprised of responders who are fully equipped, trained and qualified to respond to a broad spectrum of maritime incidents.
“The focus will be on the detection, prevention and response to actions predicated by potential maritime security threats or incidents,” said Coffey. “In addition, members will provide other services such as protection of important infrastructures, aggressive enforcement of boating laws and response to maritime emergencies.”
The expanded unit will work closely with the Maryland Natural Resources Police, the US Coast Guard and numerous other emergency responders within the jurisdiction. Charles County’s marine unit will also be available to assist with large scale incidents and special events throughout the state of Maryland and in the National Capital region.
Those assigned to the unit are required to meet the same operating stands as those of the US Coast Guard. One of those assigned, Cpl. Chris Spaulding was an enlisted member of the US Coast Guard for twelve years and has obtained a US Coast Guard Master’s License.
The Maritime Security partners received the endorsement and funding from the Department of Homeland Security. It is supported by private partners which include Mirant Mid-Atlantic, LLC and Dominion Power Company – both of which made operational and financial commitments to the program.
“This new sought-after partnership between all of the agencies is just one more tool in the Sheriff’s Office arsenal to provide a higher level of service to the people of Charles County,” said Coffey.
