This article was reprinted from the Montgomery
Journal Newspaper
Monday November 6, 2000
For All Seasons
Robert M. McCarthy
As a practicing curmudgeon, it pains me to say
something nice about anyone. It is doubly painful when that person happens to be
a Democrat. However, as your faithful scribe, I am compelled to report to you on
the quiet success of Montgomery County Sheriff Raymond M. Kight.
Although in many jurisdictions in Maryland the county
sheriff does all law enforcement, here in Montgomery County the Sheriff's
Department limits itself mostly to its traditional duties as a judicial office.
Sheriff Kight has spent his entire professional career
in law enforcement, beginning at age 18 as a U.S Army military policeman.
Thereafter he spent four years as a Montgomery County Police officer and then in
1966 joined the Sheriff's Office as an entry-level deputy. He has worked his way
up through the rank, picking up a law degree from the University of Baltimore
along the way.
In 1986, he was elected Sheriff of Montgomery County,
and has been re-elected by the voters continuously since then. He runs, with
quiet professionalism, the "silent service" of Montgomery County law
enforcement.
The Sheriff's Office primary obligation is to preserve
the peace and maintain the public safety. Unless you have been in violation of
either of those, you probably don't know much about what the office does.
The Warrant Section investigates, finds and arrest
approximately 3,000 fugitives per year; it also extradites criminals from other
jurisdictions.
The Domestic Violence Unit serves domestic violence
orders on spouse-abusers, emergency evaluation petitions on dangerous, mentally
unstable people and peace orders on stalkers. Any cop will tell you that these
domestic calls are the most dangerous and difficult of any police work. The
Sheriff's Department does them continuously with professionalism and humanity.
The office has professional staff members who refer the
victims to appropriate agencies and, through private partnerships, arrange for
cell phones or alarms to protect victims. The dramatic increase in domestic
violence has put a severe strain on the sheriff's department, whose budget has
not kept up with its new burdens.
The Child Support Enforcement Unit arrest 350 people
per year who fail to support their children.
Support and Transport operates three temporary
detention facilities that process 14,500 inmates per year and transport 20,000
prisoners between the county jail and the courts. Even my criminal clients who
fall under the authority of the sheriff's department appreciate the propriety
and respect the deputies display toward them.
The Sheriff's Office also is responsible for Circuit
Court security. Its Canine Unit has both bomb-detection and
criminal-apprehension capabilities. It handles landlord-tenant evictions and
sheriff's sales, where people's property is sold to pay their debts. They do it
all with common sense and a human touch (much to my chagrin on occasion as a
cold-hearted lawyer).
Compare that with the Prince Georges County Sheriff's
Office, which is in constant conflict with the county executive and judges over
massive backlogs of warrants.
The sheriff's equivalent for D.C., the U.S. Marshals
Service, is woefully deficient, even though it has the full support of the
entire U.S. government.
Montgomery County's other law enforcement agency, the
Montgomery County Police Department, pales in comparison with our county
Sheriff's Department, beginning with the peculiar way its head, Chief Charles A.
Moose, was selected. Chief Moose returned the compliment to the county by
voicing his suspicions that some of the officers he is supposed to lead have
certain deficits in integrity - an interesting demonstration of both
neighborliness and leadership.
Conversely, Maryland-born Ray Kight leads his deputies
and department with both skill and dignity. Despite doing the toughest cop work
in Montgomery County, the deputies universally demonstrate great pride in
themselves as well as their department. That pride must be re-earned by Kight
every day.
Under Ray Kight's leadership, our department was the
first sheriff's department in Maryland to receive national accreditation,
successfully completing an on-site evaluation in August.
When asked about the reasons for the remarkable success
of his agency with its difficult mandate, Ray Kight said he has been
"blessed with professional sworn and civilian staff."
The greatest flaw I detected in Ray Kight is that his
mother decided to give birth to a Democrat (although, with his professionalism,
dignity, style and effectiveness, he certainly could pass as a Republican).
Unfortunately, as a member of Hilliary's vast right-wing Republican conspiracy,
I will have to support (but not very zealously) his opposition in the 2002
election.
Do we see the next head of Maryland State Police or the
Department of Public Safety, or both, in a future Gov. Doug Duncan
administration?
In the meantime, thank you Sheriff Ray Kight, and the
entire Montgomery County Sheriff's Department - the "Silent Service."
You are the pride of Montgomery County law enforcement.
Bethesda resident Robert M. McCarthy has practiced
law in Montgomery County's Juvenile Court system since 1981. His column appears
every other Monday In the Journal.
