This past fall, our community witnessed two horrific incidents unfold, one at my alma mater Joppatowne High School where a student was murdered in the school at the hands of another student, and one at Edgewood High School where an MS-13 gang member, who had committed a murder and rape, was allowed to attend a county school. Due to several state laws that make the chain of communication between school leaders and public safety officials impossible, both these incidents unfolded in ways that put further students at risk. To be clear, the risk factors did not stem from law enforcement or school personnel not doing their job but rather were the result of outdated state laws. As a father of children in the Harford County Public School system, I am concerned with the implications of these laws. That is why I have partnered with Harford County’s State’s Attorney Alison Healey to address these issues via several pieces of legislation.

The first bill, H.B. 951, will add certain juvenile offenses to a preexisting list of reportable offenses. Once these offenses are added to the list and if a juvenile commits one of them, a notification piece kicks in that would allow law enforcement agencies to share certain information with select school personnel regarding the juvenile. Furthermore, I add in the bill language that would allow the state’s attorney (and not law enforcement) to provide notification to a school superintendent or their designee if a juvenile is a suspect in a crime that, if committed by an adult, would be a felony or a crime of violence. By making these changes — updating the list for what’s currently reportable and allowing the state’s attorney to provide notification with the suspect piece — the chain of communication from state to localities is updated and will ensure a safer community for our schools and students.

The second bill, H.B. 952, provides authorization for a local school superintendent or their designee to access the Juvenile Sex Offender Registry and updates the lists to include certain offenses, one of which includes the production and distribution of child pornography without consent. Another piece of the bill updates the timeline in which a juvenile’s name must stay on the registry. Right now, when probation ends for a juvenile, their name is removed from the registry, and they’re allowed to return to school in person. Unfortunately, this has played out before, as was reported by Chris Papst with FOX45 News when a Baltimore City judge issued a ruling that allowed a repeat 16-year-old sex offender to be removed from the list and thus return to school in person. To prevent this from happening again, H.B. 952 requires a juvenile stay on the list until they are 18 or their probation ends, whichever occurs later. The bill’s intent is to protect all students and personnel within our schools, so these changes are essential.

One third and final piece of legislation I am cosponsoring, H.B. 622, allows the parents of a juvenile to authorize law enforcement to talk with the juvenile directly regarding an incident in which they (the juvenile) may have knowledge. Unfortunately, due to legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly, juveniles are not allowed to talk with law enforcement without the consent of an attorney, which has resulted in not only many kids coming into contact with the system because they could not share information on the frontend that would clear their name but also has prevented law enforcement from furthering investigations. An example of this unfolded with the Joppatowne incident when law enforcement could not question any student on the whereabouts of the weapon used in the murder. As a result of this, the weapon is still at large, thus potentially putting students at risk.

It is my ardent intent with these bills to provide necessary safeguards and parameters so that our students are able to attend institutions of education that provide a safe learning environment.

Del. Mike Griffith is a Republican representing District 35A, which includes Harford and Cecil counties.

Since its designation, there have been five rounds of BRAC, with the authorized rounds taking place in 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995 and most recently 2005. For the last round in 2005, it had a six-year implementation period with the period ending on September 15, 2011.

Although the process for determining closures is technical and in-depth, the basic structure revolves around associating a score with the installations and bases being reviewed. Based upon the score, determinations are made and installations and bases are closed or not closed.

From 2006-2011, Harford County made major investments in infrastructure in anticipation of being a major beneficiary of BRAC. But unfortunately, those hopes fell short of expectations and many buildings sat empty and, in some cases, for more than a decade.

For the score itself, many factors go into the determination and in fact, factors are changing as this has been the longest period experienced without a BRAC determination being handed down. For the last round in 2005, the BRAC considerations were analyzed against the perspective of what closures or alignments would result in transforming the military.

Furthermore, there is high probability another round is coming soon and from what we have been told, two of the highest-ranking factors included in the determinations is quality of life and military pensions.

During the latest round of Air Force base reviews in Maryland (which will soon be the standard for all services), the state received an overall yellow (red is the lowest, yellow is mid-range, and green is the best) assessment for licensure portability for military families, especially spouses. For public education, one of two bases in the state received an overall yellow rating and the other a red rating.

Considering Harford County’s largest employer is Aberdeen Proving Ground, I found this troubling. As a former Marine and veteran who cares deeply for the well-being of our state’s military community, I worry for our future and the next round of BRAC determinations.

In order to be proactive on this looming timeline, I sponsored and passed into law last legislative session a bill that is studying the current licensing metrics and practices happening in the state as they relate to military personnel seeking to transfer their licensures into Maryland.

Knowing this was not enough, I also introduced several bills this year that will directly impact factors related to the Air Force indicators used for reviews. These included the following:

H.B. 713: Remove the age restriction of 55-years-old in order to receive the tax exemption on military retirement pay at $20,000.

H.B. 923: It will study how the Maryland State Department of Education honors transferred Advanced Placement credits from out-of-state high schools from students of military families relocating in Maryland.

H.B. 178: It lowers the qualifying threshold for disabled veterans seeking to obtain a “Disabled Veteran” specialty license plate from 100% disabled to 50% disabled due to service-connected injuries.

H.B. 715: It extends free vehicle registration to disabled veterans deemed unemployable due to service-connected injuries.

H.B. 716: It extends fee waivers for disabled veterans deemed unemployable due to service-connected injuries seeking to obtain certain fishing and hunting licenses.

While there is still much work to be done, it is my intent these bills will not only improve our BRAC score but will also directly impact and sustain our state’s military community, from active and reserved to their families and loved ones.

It is also my hope the bills will help shape Maryland into a destination state for the military community. I want our service members to make Maryland their forever home, where they can grow their families, invest in their communities, retire with comrades and thrive in an environment that honors and thanks them for their voluntary and patriotic sacrifice.

Del. Mike Griffith is a Republican representing District 35B, which includes Harford and Cecil counties.

Only three years ago, the Maryland General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to fund School Resource Officer programs in our schools statewide, in part for safety for our students. In just three short years, some advocates want to undo that good work while providing no alternative security solution for our children.

The?advocates who support defunding our SROs use two main points to support the effort. First, they state that most of the arrests in schools are for disruptions or disrespect, and these arrests are therefore unwarranted. The Maryland Public Schools arrest data does not support this. The data states only 7.5% of arrests are for disruption and only 0.8% are for disrespect. While undoubtedly our goal must be zero arrests in school, the data does not support their argument of a high number of these arrests.

Second, they state that SROs negatively impact students with disabilities. As a parent of a student with disabilities, I strongly disagree.?SROs are actually better equipped to interact with students with disabilities because they develop relationships with them that a non-SRO officer would not have.

Some of our communities have a distrust of law enforcement. We need to acknowledge that. It is imperative that we work to solve that. The way to bridge the gap is not less contacts with law enforcement, but more positive contacts.

Positive, consistent contacts between law enforcement and students build trust within the community. While their primary mission is to protect the students and staff inside the school building, SROs develop relationships with the students and are trained to handle situations putting the interest and future of the students first. For example, SROs in Harford County develop excellent relationships with the students, teachers and staff, and work countless hours on duty and off duty mentoring troubled students, running criminal justice clubs and reviewing social media in an attempt to prevent bullying.

Additionally, if there is an altercation at school, the SRO familiar with the students involved is better trained to handle the issue in a way that ensures the best short-term and long-term result for all involved. A patrol officer responding to a call for an assault would be more likely to file criminal charges than an SRO who is part of the student’s life. These SROs work very hard to preemptively avert potential safety issues at school. They do this because they care about the safety and security of their school community.

To defund and remove SROs from our schools will only move us backward in the effort to build trusting relationships between law enforcement and our communities. With the opportunities in front of us, and no alternative proposal for the safety of our children, it is in the best interest of Maryland’s communities to keep the SROs in school, to build the relationship with law enforcement, and to provide the best and safest future for all of our students.

Mike Griffith is a Republican representing District 35B in the Maryland House of Delegates.

Law enforcement in Harford County is supported by the residents and our officers do an excellent job of prioritizing issues. Law enforcement is highly trained to be effective at their jobs, and the residents of Harford place a great deal of trust in that competency. The officers are also highly vetted and held to a high standard of integrity, adding to their positive reputation.

The crime reduction has also been assisted by the adoption of a collaborative approach. An excellent example of this is the approach to lowering drug abuse. The sheriff’s office begins by educating the young. Deputies are sent into schools to talk to elementary school children about the importance of what law enforcement does, and how the children can avoid falling into criminality as they grow up. Additionally, officers place signs around the county, raising awareness about drug abuse. The dealers are heavily pursued and penalized when caught. The recent initiative from the Sheriff was the H.O.P.E. trailer, which is a mobile trailer that is designed to look like the inside of a bedroom of a drug user. The purpose of this trailer is to teach adults about the signs of drug abuse, so that they can talk to their children or peers if they begin to notice signs.

Law enforcement officers in Harford County are actively engaged with the community, not suppressing them but rather empowering and protecting them.

As a state delegate who represents parts of Harford and Cecil counties and a former Military Policeman in the Marine Corps, it is encouraging to see this incredible reduction of crime, and it is my honor to help advance several pieces of legislation that will decrease the crime levels even further. In just my first three weeks I have acted swiftly to help address these issues. I strongly support and have proudly co-sponsored these Republican initiatives this year that focus on crime.

The Stopping Dangerous and Violent Criminals Act of 2020 would require violent offenders to serve at least 90% of their sentence before they are eligible for parole. Currently, it’s only 50%, which allows violent offenders to re-enter into their communities prematurely.

The Protecting Marylanders From Violent Crime Act of 2020 is another bill that I have co-sponsored which was introduced by the Republicans. Currently, many local governments refuse to cooperate with ICE, which is incredibly dangerous when it comes to violent offenders. As I mentioned before, collaboration has been one of the greatest components of effectiveness in Harford County law enforcement. This failure to collaborate will only make violent crime worse, especially for immigrant and minority communities. This bill doesn’t target legal immigrants, but rather seeks to penalize immigrants who are in gangs or who commit violence or terrorism. Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler has been a proponent of this after seeing firsthand the impact the program, called 287g, makes on crime reduction.

Lastly, the Gun Theft is a Felony Act of 2020 would make stealing a gun a felony, as the title clearly states. We want to protect the rights of legal gun owners while focusing on reducing gun violence committed by criminals who steal guns. All of these bills and more will help even further reduce the rates of crime in our state and our county.

I am honored to have been appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan to this position. I am committed to serving my constituents in District 35B and to fighting for legislation that will make our state a better, safer place. We have done a lot of things right in Harford County, but there is still work to do. Thank you for the chance to serve you in Annapolis and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Mike Griffith is a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing District 35B.