Cameron Promises War on Drug Dealers;
Says Crime Fighting Under Present Sheriff Ineffective

ST. MARY'S TODAY
 

LEONARDTOWN -- He promises an all out war against the drug underworld in St. Mary’s County.

 “All crimes seem to come back to drugs,” Tim Cameron, 47, said. Cameron is running for Sheriff in the upcoming gubernatorial elections.

“Drugs pose the biggest threat to the quality of life in St. Mary’s County. It permeates every community, every ethnic group and every generation,” he said.

He worked in the sheriff’s department for a quarter century, beginning his career in July 1980, as a 21-year-old. “As I approached retirement, I felt would like to run my own department. I had the police executive command experience necessary, the specialized training, but felt I did not have the education to become the sheriff or chief.”

To undo that educational gap, Cameron applied at John Hopkins University, and graduated this past May with BS in Management. He is now part of the Police Executive Leadership Program at the university and expects to receive his MS in Management in May of 2007.

“I heard from so many people ‘You should run for sheriff.’ My roots are here, my family has been here for generations,” Cameron said in an interview with ST. MARY’S TODAY. “I have a desire to make St. Mary’s Sheriff’s office responsive to the communities.”

He said the commitment to the community that was the evidenced during Sheriff Voorhaar’s tenure is no longer being practiced.

Cameron pledges to put the drug pushers out of business, by a focused fight against drugs and forfeiture of their properties. “In 2001, property and money seized from drug pushers valued at $121,522. Year to date $14,076 have been seized,” Cameron said. It’s all about priorities,”

The lack of interest in combating drugs is obvious, he felt. “In 2001 there were seven narcotics detectives. In the beginning of 2006 there were three narcotic detectives in the sheriff’s office,” he said.

Cameron ranks increase in drug-related crimes, crimes of violence and ineffective crime fighting strategies as the top issues bedeviling St. Mary’s county. “According to Sheriff’s office records, part one and two crimes have increased 24 percent,” he said.

He said his biggest differences with Sheriff David Zylak are over the priority and the direction the sheriff’s office should take. “I believe fighting drugs forms the sheriff’ office’s foremost service to the community’” he said. “That’s because drugs, illicit drugs, and the crimes committed by people as a result of drug involvement cause all our problems.”

Cameron said if elected he would set up a separate Vice Narcotics Division at the Sheriff’s office. “We need to add personnel to the narcotics unit, update equipment and provide training for its personnel,” he said

He said vice narcotics division it would have two arms, a major case squad and a street level narcotics squad. “The major case squad would be responsible for long-term narcotics investigations. The street level squad would be responsible for open air drug markets and working communities plagued by drug use,” he said

He said police departments were wary of investing in major case narcotics squad as it necessitates long-term commitment to cases without everyday arrests and seizures.

“Police command likes to show off arrests,” Cameron said which seldom occurs on daily basis in a major  case squad, specializing in going to the very roots of the drug underworld networks. He believes the major case squad would net the big fishes in the drug trade, closing their legal escape route.

“The big fish are big because they are cunning. A street level force alone can not bring them to justice,” he said.

Cameron agreed some of the drug pushers who sell the drugs to support their own habit do sing like a canary upon arrest, but in the absence of a narcotics division the money trail that can hold good in a court of law can not be conclusively proven. “Long-term investigations is what is needed to net them,” he said.

Cameron said while the police have to follow the rule of law, drug king pins don’t have to abide by any laws or rules. “The major offenders have insulated themselves, clouding themselves behind the people they use as salesmen,” he said.  

He said in cooperation with surrounding counties, including personnel exchanges for undercover work, both short and long-term drug investigations can be successfully completed and avoid cases going into cold storage.

Cameron said he would work hard at communications and coordination with the States Attorney’s office on drug cases and with its collaboration find funding resources to add a prosecutor to coordinate and prosecute the drug cases.

He said he can not overemphasize the need for asset forfeiture of those in the drug underworld. “Seizing their properties, cars and trucks of drug dealers and putting the monies back into drug crusade is my idea of success.”

Cameron said at present there was no intelligence at the county level to expose and isolate criminals who have drug as their business, including those running illicit meth labs. He said stationing of an intelligence officer in the narcotics division is a must. “There are bits and pieces of information that are scattered and flowing all over the place. What is needed is an intelligence officer who can put the bits and pieces of information together. That’s what is called developing a successful lead.”

He said in a nutshell, the new narcotics division would conduct a relentless pursuit of those who sell drugs and those who use them.

Case management system in narcotics division should be utilized to the maximum. “Aside from tracking cases it would account for detectives’ time as a form of accountability,” he said.

Another area that was in need of urgent attention, Cameron said, was the major challenges faced y youths at the alternative schools. “There are no solid youth programs,” he said.

“As things stand of today, there is neither a short-term, nor mid-term nor even a long-term plan to combat crime,” Cameron said

The sheriff’s office has one community policeman in the CSAFE area, Cameron said. He said, “The hotspot/CSAFE program has been touted as a crime reduction model. Why has never been replicated anywhere else in St. Mary’s County?” he asked.

Cameron said is heart lies community policing as an efficient vehicle to combat crimes.

“But the disconnect that exists today between the police and communities because of lack of communications is just that, the lack of communications,” he said.

He said he would like to fully utilize CompStat in the sheriff’s office. The program weds technology to crime combating efforts. “The CompStats system in place but is grossly under utilized,” he said, in spite of the fact that technology and personnel exit in the sheriff’s office.

Cameron said the end results of CompStat are efficient and effective use of personnel, timely and accurate intelligence, rapid deployment, relentless follow-up and crime reduction, and improved police service.

“CompStat has turned around New York City, which is now incomparably safer than any other big U.S. city. It sure can change the crime landscape in St. Mary’s,” Cameron said.

Cameron the fight against crimes has to be cohesive and collective effort, not piecemeal, nor based on the decisions made on the spur of the moment.

“From agency to agency there’s lack of communications, from division to division there’s lack of communications, from shift to shift there’s lack of communications. Communication is all fragmented, dysfunctional and ineffective. An over-arching of communications is essential to collect sound intelligence,” he said

Cameron believes a petty theft is a misnomer. “There is no insignificant criminal act against a civilian,” he said, arguing the criminal engaged in stealing cell-phones or decks from parked cars might as well be doing so to support his or her drug habit, but in doing so boosting crime networks.

Cameron said St. Mary’s has some of the finest policemen but the vision is conspicuously missing at the top. “Vision comes from the leadership and filters down. We have in our department professional, well-trained and dedicated police officers. They need leadership,” he said.

Cameron said school safety was on the top of his mind. “Nothing is more important than our children,” he said. He made it clear he was not in favor of permanent stationing of cops in schools. “Posting of a cop sends a wrong message to young minds that their world inside the school is unsafe,” he said.

Cameron said an armed policeman is not a guarantee to ward off a Columbine high school-type orgy of killings. “The first shots that were fired in Columbine were fired were at the high school resource officer,” he said.

He said trained police officers being assigned to schools in an instructional capacity is an altogether different story. “That helps build a relationship of trust, rather than that of fear,” he said.

Cameron regretted as a result of recurring incidents we have posted officers at the middle schools. “They are untrained and not part of the instructional staff at all,” he said.

Cameron said DARE was a very successful program for a number of years in St. Mary’s County. “I would like to reinstitute DARE,” he said. He said if ever there was a need of the DARE program, it is now. He recalled the successful program was run in partnership with St. Mary’s Board of Education.

He said when it comes to the sheriff’s, he believes that in working within the parameters established by the citizens of St. Mary’s County in conjunction with the Board of County Commissioners in stead of trying to tax the community beyond what they can afford. “To manage its budget better, the sheriff’s office needs a realistic and accurate resource allocation study performed by a professional body such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) or John Hopkins University’s Division of Public Safety Leadership.”

He said personnel allocation needs to be changed and adjusted to ensure visibility, timely response and follow-up in the whole of St. Mary’s County. “Patrol Officers are working in the same areas since 1980, when I joined the force, or even before that. We have regressed in the last four years in the personnel allocation for patrol,” he said.

He said the work of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations that brings together the sheriff’s office and the Maryland State Police  can be replicated for a more professional and efficient deployment of all available officers on patrol duty for timely response

Cameron said because of the treacherous times citizens live in and peculiar challenges the U.S. was faced with, homeland security and counter-terrorism were areas the sheriff’s office can not afford to lose sight of.  He said he would assign personnel to Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is a fusion center involving federal, state and local agencies to collect intelligence information on foreign and domestic terrorism.

 “We don’t have anybody assigned to any fusion center,” Cameron said.

Protection of the critical infrastructure of St. Mary’s County could not be left to the vagaries of nature. “All officers, sworn or civilian,   should be trained in recognition of terrorism, terrorists and collection of intelligence information,” Cameron said.

Cameron said he firmly believes the Sheriff’s office should be reflective of its diverse community it represents, both in workforce supervision and management. “I really feel this is what our department is missing completely,” he said. “Mentoring and coaching of subordinates from the minorities, and reaching down at all levels and pulling them up into supervisory and management positions is needed.”

Right now any visitor feels shocked at the all-white, male leadership at the Sheriff’s office, pictures of whom are displayed prominently in Leonardtown.

“Do the minorities believe the promotional process is fair and equitable? That’s a question the leadership has to answer,” Cameron said.

The four-generation St. Mary’s native, is father of two boys Scotty, 6, and Shawn, two-and-half, and is husband of Angie.  The highly accessible and responsive Cameron has been a policeman all his adult life and a day after retirement on October 31, 2005 was appointed as the director of St. Mary’s Public Safety Department.

“Policing is the only career I have ever known,” he said. Cameron was promoted through the ranks, serving in each and every division within the agency, and rising to the rank of a divisional commander.

He was raised at his grandparents farm in St. Inigoes.