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 Sharing Our Stake in Maryland's Public Safety | April 2014 |
The Public Safety Stakeholder
 An E-publication of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for our Criminal Justice and Community Partners |
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Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
There are more ways than ever to find up-to-date information about DPSCS initiatives, happenings and news. Like us on  , follow us on  and view videos and photos on 
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The mission of DPSCS is to protect the public, our employees and those under our supervision.
Governor Martin O'Malley Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown
DPSCS Secretary Gregg Hershberger
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More than 30 Hagerstown-area DPSCS correctional employees, their friends, and members of the Mid-Atlantic Veterinary team walked and ran to raise money for America's VetDogs in Annapolis. See more pictures on our Facebook page.
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This Month's Featured Stories:
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 | keeping communities safe |
DPSCS Wins in Legislative Session
After the April 2013 indictments of BCDC correctional officers, with support from the Governor's Office, DPSCS's 2014 legislative package was geared toward providing the Department with the tools necessary to continue rooting out corruption and enhancing security at our correctional facilities.
Among the legislative successes are: increased investigative and intelligence gathering capabilities; funding for 100 new correctional officers; two additional cutting-edge managed access cell phone detection systems; and an expanded ability to go after corrupt correctional staff.
Continued here
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 | believing in human capital |
DPSCS Remembers and Honors Victims and Their Families
He worked extremely hard to provide for his family but got behind in his bills and robbed a guy on the street for the money he needed, killing him in the process.
The event didn't happen- but it could have. It was a fictional story filmed by offenders as a public service video for the in-house TV channel at Eastern Correctional Institution (ECI) to highlight National Crime Victims' Rights Week. The goal was to produce a video portraying the rippling impact one violent crime has on the family and friends -- not only the victim but the perpetrator as well -- and how long those effects can last.
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 | public safety works |
DPSCS employees have been stung by the bee-keeping bug and now they're teaching inmates to care for bees, too.
In the latest restorative justice program, the workers have gone to bee school to learn to teach inmates responsibility and care for other creatures. "It's just giving them another idea on how they can help," said John Gantz, a carpenter and correctional maintenance officer in Hagerstown who is working in the program.
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DPSCS Wins in Legislative Session
The Department's Internal Investigative Unit (IIU) was revamped and greatly expanded with about a 90% increase in staff, streamlining DPSCS's intelligence-gathering and investigative powers. IIU now directly oversees and coordinates all DPSCS intelligence activity. And as of this October 1st, the unit will have a new name - the Intelligence and Investigative Division. Also, for the first time DPSCS will have the authority to polygraph correctional employees, including correctional officers, as a condition of employment.
Big-ticket budget items secured by the department include an additional $7.2 million to render useless contraband cellphones at two Baltimore City prisons; $4.1 million to hire 100 new correctional officers; $788,000 to establish a department-wide security camera and equipment replacement fund; $563,000 to expand the DPSCS K-9 unit; and $637,000 to expand in-service training for correctional officers.
The legislature also eliminated a 90-day deadline to bring certain charges against an officer charged with criminal activity inside a correctional facility, related to officer's official duties, or that involves an inmate or detainee. Penalties for delivering or attempting to deliver a telecommunications device, charger or SIM card into a facility rose from $1,000 to $3,000, and an additional sentence of three to five years. And the department will now have the ability to suspend corrupt officers without pay for delivering into a facility telecommunications devices, and any sort of drug or alcohol.
See our 2014 Legislative Report here.
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DPSCS Remembers and Honors Victims and Their Families
Virginia Warren, ECI- East Volunteer Coordinator said, "It was our attempt to personify the emotional reactions that each affected person might experience."
The activity was just one among many used bu DPSCS to increase awareness of crime victims and the struggles those victims, families and our communities face. Employees and offenders worked together to create events that would send a message to victims, their families and the communities. Several institutions participated in "Food for Thought." Offenders adorned paper plates with an apology, reflection or a poem written for victims. Others created a paper chain with their messages to their victims.
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"We learned everything about bees, from how to start colonies to diseases," Gantz added.
The Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown already has several inmates working on the hives, supervised by two correctional officers who also took the training, Gantz said. More inmates from the region are expected to be brought into the program this summer.
The trainers got help from a Germantown man with decades of experience who has served as a mentor, Gantz said. "It was fun," Gantz said of the training. "He helped us to get started."
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