"Tom" Anonymous Visitor to Pingbox's Question....

The PingBox is a yahoo utility that shows on the right hand side of the blog where you can ask questions live to WicBury Crapper Board Members.... Our response in RED.

Tom is an anonymous visitor to Pingbox.

I had a thought concerning crime in Wicomico. Would it be possible to deputize 1000 volunteer citizens to carry concealed weapons. These would be persons who would pay for and pass a background check, people who would pay for their own training in firearms and who would buy their own approved weapon. Imagine if the thugs knew that there were 1000 armed plainclothes deputies on the streets?

An interesting suggestion but, we don't think this would ever happen for several reasons. A deputy also has arrest powers and all the powers of a police officer so for those reasons we doubt the Sheriff would deputize 1000 people to have arrest powers and carry weapons in plaincloths. Although a deterrent, we shutter to think what 1000 people with no police training, carrying firearms and authorized to use them during enforcement of the law, would result in. You're resulting situation would probably be shootouts in the streets between armed "deputies" with little training and suspected thugs. Lastly a deputy's "power" is derived from the Sheriff so in essence the deputy is an extension of the Sheriff's power. The Sheriff, being the most powerful law enforcement body in the county, puts full faith in his deputies to carry out enforcement of the law in his stead. In order for law enforcement officers to maintain their powers in Maryland they must pass a course of credit hours (6 months) at an accredited police academy, must attend in service training every year, and must be field trained, among other stringent background qualifications. This is why a lot of people don't every become police officers... Although some "slip through the cracks" it's not many. Less than 1/2 of 1% of 500,000 police officers in the United States is ever charged with a crime while sworn. Although the Sheriff can deputize citizens in cases of emergency, again due to liability reasons we feel this situation would probably never happen as the "Reserve Deputy" program is no longer taking place either, to our knowledge anyway.