Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The ban is expected to pass the Maryland General Assembly.
Drivers in Maryland still using hand-held mobile devices on the road should be prepared to either make the move to hands free or simply keep their cell phones put away. The Maryland Senate voted 40-6 Monday to approve a bill that makes the use of hand-held electronic devices while behind the wheel a "primary offense," The Baltimore Sun reported. Currently, drivers in Maryland can only be cited for using a cell phone if an officer pulls them over for committing another offense — such as speeding. If the proposed ban is approved—which, according to reports, is likely—drivers could be pulled over for using their mobile phones without committing another offense. Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney A. Katz said he could see where it makes sense to …
Monday, February 4, 2013
Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown will discuss the governor’s public safety agenda during a town hall Wednesday, Feb. 6 in Rockville.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown will discuss the governor’s public safety agenda during a town hall Wednesday, Feb. 6 in Rockville.
Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown will host a public town hall in Rockville to discuss Gov. Martin O’Malley’s public safety priorities for the 2013 legislative session. The town hall is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6 at the Montgomery County Council Office Building. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett and County Council President Nancy Navarro are expected to attend, according to a press release from Brown’s office. Wednesday’s panelists include State Police Superintendent Col. Marcus Brown, State Superintendent of Schools Lillian Lowery and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein. The Rockville town hall caps a trio of town halls advocating the O’Malley-Brown administration’s public …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Join county leaders to discuss 'what's realistic, what's not' in terms of student security in the wake of school shootings in other areas.
County residents are invited to participate in a panel discussion surrounding Montgomery County Public Schools safety and security on Wednesday at a community action forum. Organized by the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, Wednesday’s community forum will focus on community discussion of the county’s emergency preparedness and security. Since the December shooting that killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, county parents and leaders have spoken out about school safety concerns in Montgomery County. Ranking representatives from across Montgomery County government will answer questions, including Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger, MCPS Deputy Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, the …
Friday, January 4, 2013
A school safety meeting is scheduled for Jan. 16.
How much security is the right amount of security for Montgomery County’s public school students? Following the shock of December’s tragic shootings in Newtown, CT, parents and family members of students at Bradley Hills Elementary in Bethesda have written to county leaders asking for security improvements at the elementary school’s temporary location, according to a Wednesday Gazette report. Students and teachers at Bradley Hills currently are housed at the Radnor Center, while the school undergoes modernization, scheduled for completion in August. “Our school has no security system in place and our front door remains unlocked throughout the school day with no mechanism for screening visitors,” parents wrote, according to the report. …
Thursday, November 8, 2012
County police and fire/rescue personnel return from week helping Sandy victims in New York, where the situation was described as "Katrina-esque."
On Tuesday afternoon, while Montgomery County and the rest of the nation were paying attention to Election Day, 80 Montgomery County fire/rescue and police personnel unceremoniously returned home from spending an exhausting week assisting Hurricane Sandy victims in New York. The Maryland Task Force 1, made up of local medical workers, rescue experts, engineers and dog handlers with search canines, was assembled Sunday afternoon, Oct. 28, and dispatched to Fort Dix, NJ, to await orders, according to Montgomery County Assistant Chief Scott Graham. From there it was a long week of search and rescue and humanitarian relief that Graham says was similar to the situation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. “I’ve been on the task force since …
Thursday, October 18, 2012
The award was among $6.3 million given to Maryland's state and local governments by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Montgomery County has been awarded $159,701 in federal funding earmarked for violent crime reduction and other public safety activities, Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin announced Thursday. The U.S. Department of Justice grant is one in a $6.3 million bundle given to the state, county, and local governments of Maryland. The county's share will be used to install a system that can deliver video intelligence wirelessly to commanders and operational personnel in an emergency and to develop the capability to share that data with other law enforcement agencies. The grant funding is based on a formula of population and violent crime statistics. Money from the program is used to pay for law enforcement, prosecutions, education, drug …
Monday, October 1, 2012
The newly renovated Montgomery County public safety headquarters revealed.
After two years and more than $20 million in renovations, Montgomery County police have almost fully moved into the new public safety headquarters at 100 Edison Park Dr., a building formerly occupied by the National Geographic Society headquarters. The $108.5-million headquarters project brings the Montgomery County Police Department headquarters, the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security, the First District Police Station and parts of the transportation department under one 408,000-square-foot roof. The building also houses the police crime lab and the forensic division on the top floor in a state-of-the-art facility. From traditional finger printing to full DNA analysis, Montgomery …
Thursday, August 23, 2012
The beltway and other high traffic roads will see an increase in trooper presence this weekend.
Maryland State Police will be on the roads in full force this weekend, targeting potential crashes before they happen. If you’re planning a last-minute getaway before Montgomery County heads back to school, be aware that 22 Maryland State Police Department barracks will be alert and looking for aggressive driving, speeding, distracted or impaired drivers and seat belt violations. The effort comes in response to an increase in traffic fatalities. Traffic-related deaths are up 13.5 percent across the country for the first quarter of 2012, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Maryland, there was an increase of 6 percent, according a Maryland State Police release. From Jan. 1, 2012, to July 23, 2012, there were…
Friday, August 10, 2012
Maryland confirmed its first case of West Nile virus on Friday.
An adult in central Maryland is the state's first confirmed case of West Nile virus this year, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced on Friday, Aug. 10. Closer to home, the virus was also found in Montgomery County by the U.S. Department of Defense, the state's health and mental hygiene department added. The virus sample from Montgomery County was found in a mosquito pool, which is "a group of mosquitoes collected at one of several trap sites across the [state]," the health department added. The virus "continues to threaten the health of Maryland residents," Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, state health department secretary, said in a statement. "These findings remind us that there are basic actions we can all take to …
Baltimore Matt
12:18 pm on Tuesday, April 2, 2013
How about we only ban free cell phones...period more ›