March 28, 2024

Community Policing Arrives in Lexington Park

Posted by Lexington Park Business and Community Association
Bay Leader

Sgt. Clay Safford

Sgt. Clay Safford

Lexington Park’s new community policing unit highlights the agenda of the regular meeting of the Lexington Park Business and Community Association Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013, at 6:30 p.m.

The newly formed, six-person policing unit will be on the streets within the next month. The Lexington Park COP Unit is designed to provide on-the-street police coverage of Lexington Park and its immediate surroundings.

The unit is in advance of a full police station slated to begin construction after July 2015 on Great Mills Road where the Lexington Park Volunteer Rescue Squad is currently headquartered. The squad broke ground this summer on their new headquarters on the new segment of FDR Boulevard connecting the library directly to Great Mills Road.

Sgt. Clay Safford of the Sheriff’s Special Operations Division was appointed to direct the community policing unit. They will use a sheriff substation on Shangri La Road as a point of contact in Lexington Park, but Sgt. Safford said the idea was not for the force to staff an office. The job is to work in the community and provide constant coverage of the most populated area in St. Mary’s County.

“Residents, business and property owners working with the Sheriff’s Office to take back the streets!” reads the LPBCA’s announcement of Sgt. Safford’s introduction of the Lexington Park COP Unit.

TheĀ  meetings convene at 6:30 at the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department next to the Lexington Park Library and adjourn promptly at 8 p.m. Everyone interested in the progress of Lexington Park is welcome.

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Comments
One Response to “Community Policing Arrives in Lexington Park”
  1. Hank Caruso says:

    I was hugely disappointed with the sensationalist, doom-and-gloom emphasis in “Navy Announces Funding Withdrawal from Museum” in the October 4 edition of the Lexington Park Leader. The flavor of the headline and content for this feature contributed absolutely nothing positive to the cause of the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum or the promotion of tourism in St. Mary’s County. It does not appear that the potential positive aspects of this action were either considered or investigated. In addition, the fact that the Museum remained open for County visitors, in spite of Government sequestration and furloughs, was completely ignored and had a negative impact on the head count of visitors to the Museum.

    For example, a different (yet still accurate) emphasis for the headline could have been: “Air Museum Begins Life as an Independent Public Museum.” Content could have been along the lines of: “For the first time, the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum will be an independent public museum. With the removal of the official “US Navy Museum” designation, the Museum is now free to develop a business plan that will strengthen the Museum as a community asset. Included in the new business plan will be investigations of an expanded personal and corporate membership structure, admission fees, and planning for revenue-producing activities that were previously prohibited.”

    All of this is true and emphasizes the potential expansion of the Museum as a supportive community presence. The combination of STEM-based educational opportunities related to the development of Naval Aviation; historic preservation of the unique artifacts and experiences of flight testing at NAS Patuxent River; and increased activities involving community participation are extremely positive aspects of this administrative change in the relationship between the Museum and the Navy.

    If the Lexington Park Leader wants to be a County booster and not a Loss Leader, I would hope that it would more thoroughly consider the image of County assets that it presents in its editorial content.

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