Calvert County’s sheriff gave the Police Accountability Board a quarterly operational briefing Dec. 3, saying the office added school resource officers, swore in new deputies, is pursuing accreditation and is tracking organized theft activity involving out‑of‑area actors.

The sheriff told the board he aims to have “a deputy in every school” and reported two new school resource officers (SROs) added this year; he also said the department swore in three new deputy sheriffs and had additional recruits in the academy. On staffing, he acknowledged the office is still short—“we're short 6 deputies”—relative to his goal and said recruitment and retention remain a priority.

The sheriff gave quarterly operational numbers: 27,520 calls for service; 1,386 traffic citations; 73 DUIs; about 491 accidents; roughly 8,500 warnings; and 14 fatalities in 2024, with two fatalities so far this year. He said body‑worn cameras became a routine part of investigations and that earlier higher complaint counts have declined since implementation.

On school and youth programs, the sheriff described a recent citizen police academy (one graduate so far; applications for the next class open in February for a March start), DARE reintroduction in elementary schools and a focus on getting deputies certified to teach the curriculum across grade levels.

The sheriff also discussed crime patterns: investigators have traced organized theft activity that often uses out‑of‑state vehicles and transient actors; he cited examples of card‑skimming rings that have been traced to overseas groups and urged the public to report suspicious behavior. “When you get the person identified, we're going to charge them. They're already back to their respective countries,” he said, describing investigative challenges when offenders leave the area.

The sheriff said the office is exploring online reporting for minor crimes to free deputies for higher‑priority work but prefers in‑person reporting for community engagement. He announced the Calvert County Sheriff's Foundation, a nonprofit to accept donations for community programs and equipment, and gave an update on the agency’s CALIA accreditation effort: staff are working through procedural reviews and interviews and the sheriff said certification looks possible by early summer.

What’s next: the sheriff will return with continued operational reporting and a timeline for the CALIA certification process and the citizen police academy application period.