LEONARDTOWN, Md. — Nearly 40 years after St. Mary’s County opened its current detention center, county leaders gathered Tuesday, Aug. 4, to begin another major investment in the infrastructure supporting local law enforcement.
Officials broke ground on the new St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office Support Services Facility during a ceremony held near the St. Mary’s County Board of Elections office on Hollywood Road in Leonardtown.
The facility is designed to address a problem Sheriff Steven A. Hall described plainly: The agency has run out of room.
“We didn’t have any — we ran out of space,” Hall said in an interview with The BayNet. “That’s about as simple an answer.”
However, the need extends beyond additional square footage. The project will create secure space for property and evidence, expand the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab and centralize specialized vehicles and equipment that are currently stored at several locations across the county.
Protecting Evidence For Decades
The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for securely maintaining tens of thousands of items connected to criminal investigations. Each item must be documented, labeled, protected and made available to investigators or the courts when needed.
Some evidence must be preserved for decades — or indefinitely.
“You have to keep it for sometimes 50 years,” Hall said. “For eternity, for a homicide case. It has to be maintained at a certain level of protection.”
The new facility will provide additional secure, climate-controlled space to help preserve that evidence and maintain the chain of custody required for criminal prosecutions.
Hall said the facility’s added space will also allow the Sheriff’s Office to consider new forensic capabilities while making better use of its existing technology.
“The space will allow us to really entertain some new things and make better use of the things that we have,” Hall said. “The space alone is an opportunity to do that.”
The Crime Lab provides around-the-clock crime scene processing, forensic analysis and digital evidence examination. It also assists allied law enforcement agencies when requested. Expanding the lab is expected to help the agency process evidence more efficiently as technology and investigative methods continue to evolve.
A ‘One-Stop Shop’ for Emergency Resources
The project will also bring specialized vehicles and equipment together at one central location. Those resources are currently stored at as many as three or four locations, according to Hall.
During a critical incident, deputies may need access to all-terrain vehicles, utility task vehicles, rescue vehicles or other specialized equipment.
“This will allow us to go to one place and get everything that we need and respond instead of going to three different places — sometimes as many as four,” Hall said.
When asked about the greatest benefit, Hall summarized it in one word: “Speed.”
Although the building will house administrative functions, special operations and other support services, Hall said its resources will affect every division of the Sheriff’s Office, including patrol.
“The resources, and the allocation, and the availability routinely will affect every division of the office,” Hall said.
Built For A Growing County
Commissioner Scott Ostrow said the facility is intended to ensure the Sheriff’s Office can keep pace with the continued growth of St. Mary’s County.
“It will allow the Sheriff’s Office to more fully protect our citizenry,” Ostrow said in an interview with The BayNet. “As our county grows, our Sheriff’s Office needs to grow so they can look to the future and continue to do one of the most basic tenets of public responsibility — public safety.”
St. Mary’s County is home to approximately 125,000 residents, in addition to people who commute into the county for work, Ostrow said.
He emphasized that the need for the facility reflects the county’s overall growth rather than an increase in crime.
“We’ve grown a tremendous amount in 40 years,” Ostrow said. “As our community grows, we have to look at growing our Sheriff’s Office so they can better protect our community and do the job that we need them to do — and do it safely.”
Nearly $19 Million Investment
The county’s capital improvement plan lists the broader Sheriff’s Office Support Services Facility project at approximately $18.98 million.
Funding includes about $15.7 million in bonds, along with pay-as-you-go funding, excise taxes and transfer taxes. Ostrow said the project will ultimately be supported by county taxpayers.
For Hall, the facility represents an investment not only in current operations but also in the deputies and employees who will serve the county for years to come.
“I hope that they don’t take it for granted — the work that goes into it, the level of collaboration and the cost to the taxpayers as well,” Hall said. “They’re making an investment in their future.”
Hall said completing a project of this size requires both long-term planning and cooperation among the Sheriff’s Office, commissioners, county staff, contractors and residents.
“When you stick to a plan, it can come to fruition,” Hall said. “It takes collaboration, and it takes conviction.”
Completion Expected In 2027
Construction is expected to be completed in December 2027, although Hall said the project could potentially finish ahead of schedule.
“The way that Doyle is moving — and they are doing an incredible job — it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s done early,” Hall said.
The ceremony included remarks from Commissioner Vice President Scott Ostrow, Department of Public Works and Transportation Director John B. Norris III and Sheriff Steven A. Hall. County Administrator David Weiskopf welcomed attendees and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Sheriff’s Office Chaplain Charlie Wharton delivered the invocation, benediction and ground blessing.
The ceremony also honored former St. Mary’s County Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron, who was presented with a sign announcing that the roadway serving the new facility will be named Sheriff Cameron Way.
Cameron served the Sheriff’s Office for more than 42 years, including four consecutive terms as sheriff from 2006 through 2022. Planning for the Support Services Facility began during his administration, with a Sheriff’s Office master planning study completed in 2019 and the facility’s design contract awarded in 2021.
Commissioner Vice President Scott Ostrow read a proclamation from the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County recognizing the groundbreaking as an important investment in the county’s public safety infrastructure. The proclamation honored the collaboration and planning that brought the Support Services Facility to construction.
Ostrow said the groundbreaking demonstrates the county’s commitment to the employees whose work supports public safety, including deputies, contract employees and support services staff.
“This building is more than just today,” Ostrow said. “It represents our investment in the future. It represents our investment and our support of the brave men and women from the Sheriff’s Office.”
For the public, the work inside the future building may largely remain out of sight. However, officials said properly preserving evidence, processing crime scenes, protecting county equipment and quickly deploying specialized resources are essential to the cases deputies investigate and the emergencies to which they respond.
“This has to take place in order for us to grow and be able to provide the services that we do,” Hall said.
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