Special Services From the Nation’s Oldest Sheriff’s Office
This month I had the pleasure of researching the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office (SMCSO) in preparation to write this piece profiling their Emergency Services Team. It was interesting to note, prior to any interviews, that the SMCSO website is www.firstsheriff.com. On that website is a section regarding history of the agency and I was somewhat amazed to find that the SMCSO can document it’s continual service to the citizens of the county dating back to 1637! The first sheriff, Sheriff James Baldridge, was originally appointed. The position of Sheriff wasn’t an elected position until the Maryland Constitution went into effect in 1776. The current uniform, badge and pattern of patrol vehicle markings were established in 1966—55 years ago. That was the same year that the Sheriff’s Office switched from being a part-time on-call service to being a full-time, full-service law enforcement agency. The SMCSO is solely responsible for law enforcement in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, although they work hand-in-hand with and sometimes receive assistance from the Maryland State Police barracked in the county seat of Leonardtown.
The SMCSO currently has an authorized sworn strength of 151 deputies plus another 89 corrections officers and 80 non-sworn professional staff. The SMCSO is currently broken down into six divisions to provide services:
- Administrative Division
- Corrections Division
- Criminal Investigations Division
- Patrol Division
- Special Operations Division
- Vice/Narcotics Division
Each division obviously has specific responsibilities, but for the purposes of this article we’re going to focus on the Special Operations Division and, more specifically, the Emergency Services Team (EST). I had the pleasure of meeting with Sheriff Tim Cameron, Captain Steven Hall and Sergeant Shawn Moses.
Sheriff Cameron himself is a former EST member and my experience with him goes back over 20 years. After the events at Columbine, St. Mary’s County was one of the first jurisdictions to stand up Active Shooter Response training at both the response and instructor levels. When I attended in 2000, Sheriff Cameron was the primary instructor (although he wasn’t sheriff at that time). Captain Hall is the Commander of the Special Operations Division (SOD) at SMCSO and Commander of the EST. Sgt. Moses is the Assistant Team Leader for EST.
In St. Mary’s County, the Special Operations Division is comprised of far more than just the Emergency Services Team. Also falling into the SOD are deputies or other staff falling into the following duties and locations:
- Southern Maryland Criminal Justice Academy
- The Chaplain Corps
- Judicial Services—which include Civil Process, Child Support Enforcement and Alcohol/Tobacco Enforcement
- Traffic Safety
- Court Security
- The Cadet Program
- The Community Policing units
- The K-9 Unit
- School Resource Officers
- The Motorcycle Corps (“Motors”)
The Emergency Services Team was founded in March of 1995 under the leadership of Sheriff Richard Voorhaar. As is true of almost all special services teams, they were part time to start and, in fact, the entire 16-man team remains decentralized today with each deputy also serving other primary functions within the sheriff’s office.
To be selected for EST, a deputy needs to apply in writing up their Chain of Command. If they are endorsed by their chain and have above-average annual evaluations they are scheduled for the test date. A written test, firearms test and physical agility test is given. Oral Board exams follow if the applicant passes all the tests. Once selected, the deputy is scheduled to attend a basic SWAT school. The usual basic school is three weeks long and familiarizes the new EST member with a good foundation of terminology and operations. Once through that school, the new team member will be trained regularly by the current and veteran EST members. The current training schedule for SMCSO EST is two days per month (every other week = 26 days per year) and one full week each summer. As any SWAT veteran knows, how a team operates is 100% unique to that team. Positioning, terminology, protocols, tactics, breaching, etc.—it’s all done to suit the team’s strengths and minimize any performance challenges that may be identified during training.
During my interview with Sheriff Cameron, Cpt. Hall and Sgt. Moses, several points were made clear and while I won’t say “forcefully,” the focus and value put on these statements was obvious. They are deeply engrained agency values/outlooks and Sheriff Cameron leads from the front both in displaying them through his behaviors and enforcing them within his agency.
The primary thrust of EST training is on High Risk Warrant Service and Hostage Barricade situations. Sheriff Cameron sees these functions as the “bread and butter” of SWAT ops and he feels that perfecting even these two functions is near impossible. The unexpected always occurs and being able to improvise/adapt to complete the mission takes constant training and saturation with the team. You have to know what each man will do without asking. You just know.
When tactics came into the discussion, it was made clear that, agency-wide, there is a focus on the sanctity of life. Sheriff Cameron says, “One of the most basic and essential principles this office operates under is the recognition of sanctity of life.” Captain Hall followed on the Sheriff’s statement by adding, “We save lives. It’s our primary purpose.” Sgt. Moses added that if you review the agency’s policies it’s clear to see that the sanctity of life is in clear focus. “All of our policies support it."
Cpt. Hall commented that it helps to have a sheriff who is a former EST guy himself. The need to justify a request is reduced because the sheriff already understands the justification; he’s been there and done that. It’s a common occurrence for the EST Commander to have a request for necessary equipment or training and before he can complete his justification for it, the Sheriff has indicated his understanding of the need and is helping to expand on the justification before taking it to the county council for approval (if necessary). It's not that the sheriff gives blind approval. It's that his background helps him to understand the need with less explanation required from the SOD Commander.
Like most emergency services teams today, the EST is adapting to new technologies and best practices as fast as training and budget can allow. Their team currently has one primary medic assigned (“tacmed”) and one medic who serves primarily in patrol but can be called upon to be on standby if needed. The team also has drones incorporated into response management and mission recognizance. The agency has five pilots with one assigned to EST.
The one thing that seemed to keep coming across during the interview was the sense of esprit de corps not only for EST but for the agency. Pride of service, commitment and accomplishment all seem to be strong. In an agency that is almost 400 years old, by default representing Sheriffs nationwide purely by its existence, that esprit de corps is vital. The deputies of SMCSO do it well from what I’ve observed.
Lt. Frank Borelli (ret), Editorial Director | Editorial Director
Lt. Frank Borelli is the Editorial Director for the Officer Media Group. Frank brings 20+ years of writing and editing experience in addition to 40 years of law enforcement operations, administration and training experience to the team.
Frank has had numerous books published which are available on Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, and other major retail outlets.
If you have any comments or questions, you can contact him via email at [email protected].