Charles sheriff addresses community safety

Sheriff Troy Berry (D) wants to make it “abundantly clear” that the Charles County Sheriff’s Office takes all complaints and concerns of community members seriously.

During the July 9 county commissioners’ meeting, Berry sat down to explain priorities and clear up what he said was “misinformation” from the June 25 and 26 commissioner meetings, where the Stonehaven community of St. Charles complained of large, unruly gatherings.

In videos that Nichole Hall, the president of the Stonehaven community’s HOA, sent to Southern Maryland News, there were videos of a person being hit by a car during an argument, trashcans being exploded and fireworks hitting homes.

“The men and women of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office work diligently safeguarding this community. Their hard work and dedication should be celebrated,” Berry said. “After recent events, it is painfully obvious that the Charles County Sheriff’s Office had and has a plan for all of its communities.”

Berry said that a sheriff’s office operation executed on July 4 in Stonehaven was in motion for several weeks prior to the commissioners’ meetings or any external correspondence.

That operation included members of the sheriff’s office Emergency Services Team, along with sheriff’s detectives and the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, who served a search warrant in the 11200 block of Thackeray Lane in White Plains. The search warrant was related to a shooting that occurred in June on Argyle Avenue in Waldorf in which suspects allegedly shot several rounds at a house, grazing a woman who was inside, according to a release from the sheriff’s office.

“The Charles County Sheriff’s Office could not disclose any of these plans for two major reasons. First, the preservation of the integrity of the investigation. Secondly, to ensure the safety of my officers as they executed a search warrant,” Berry said.

Commissioner Gilbert “BJ” Bowling (D) said that in his experience as a police captain, he knows that there are things that Berry cannot relay to the community about investigations because of information leaks.

“I knew you guys were doing the right thing,” Bowling said. “I knew you had a plan in place.”

Commissioner Ralph E. Patterson II (D) said, “You can’t let all the secret sauce out.”