Viola dealing with staffing shortage in police department

General manager drops $50,000 proposed expenditure for independent review of staffing and organizational structure

By TOM STAUSS Publisher

The Ocean Pines Association membership is well aware of one key staffing issue at the Ocean Pines Police Department, the absence of Chief Leo Ehrismen, who was placed on paid administrative leave in early January after revelations of missing material in the department’s evidence with others for recommendations.

“I do have problem with setting up this registry,” he said and cited a lack of redress for property owners and contractors about the quality of work. That is available at the state level through an administrative law judge, he added.

He also wondered if a contractor who doesn’t pay the registration fee storage shed.

His duties are being temporarily handled by two lieutenants, one from the Worcester County Sheriff’s office and the other employed by the OPPD.

Lt. Brian Caramone of the sheriff’s department had been dispatched to “provide oversight and assistance” to the Ocean Pines department as the investiu will be squeezed out of the marketplace. “You’re allowing Ocean Pines to engage in that sort of restraint of trade,” he suggested. “I think you invite more potential problems than you’re trying to solve.”

Lakernick said he is OK with a free list but not with charging a fee.

Parks also said he may support a free listing but not in any form that indicates the contractors are endorsed by the OPA.

He acknowledged that the OPA can’t stop it if a property owner interprets that as a referral.

Horn said CPI may still be interested in creating the listing even if it is offered for free and said it will be up to CPI and the general manager to make that decision.

Police department

From Page 17 gation unfolds.

Day to day oversight of the department is being handled by Lt. Shaker Koppin.

Both lieutenants report to General Manager John Viola, who in a Feb. 21 telephone provided some additional details on activities within the department during these recent challenging times.

There continues to be an absolute embargo on any information about the missing evidence.

That’s not likely to change any soon, at least not until Caramone completes the investigation and announces results and Ehrisman’s status is clarified.

Viola said that he recently had included in the proposed 2023-24 OPA budget $50,000 for an independent review of staffing and organization of the department.

He subsequently removed that proposed expenditure from the budget because Caramone has been able to offer insight on those issues, mak- ing it possible to avoid the expense of an independent study.

Viola said a focus of what is now an in-house review with the active assistance of Caramone is what the OPA needs to do to compete with area police departments for the retention of police officers, especially in the ranks of officers just starting out in policing or who have not yet attained the status of sergeant or lieutenant.

These lower ranked officers can be more easily lured away from police departments that offer better pay and benefits than Ocean Pines currently offers.

Viola said part of his departmental review concerns the possibility of developing a pension program for the OPPD as a way helping to retain police officers.

Other police departments in the area as well as county and state law enforcement agencies offer such a benefit.

Should Viola be able to set up a pension program for the OPPD, with the support of the Board of Directors, it is not without its complications.

If the OPA adopts a new, more generous pension program for the OPPD, then Viola acknowledged that similar programs in other departments may need to be considered.

He confirmed reports that the OPPD is short five lower ranked officer positions and one higher position, and that recruitment efforts are under way, in local publication and trade magazines with readership outside the local area.

He acknowledged that hiring and then waiting for new officers to be certified can take time.

Because of mutual assistance agreements with area law enforcement agencies, should multiple calls for assistance occur simultaneously with the OPPD unable to respond then these outside agencies, including the state police in Berlin or the sheriff’s department, will be dispatched to Ocean Pines.

Viola said that he is expecting to receive a bill shortly from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department for services rendered to the OPPD by Caramone, some of which weren’t anticipated when he initially came on board to handle the missing evidence investigation.

Until such time as Ehrismen’s status changes, the OPA is in effect carrying the expense of two senior leaders, one of whom is absent.

It obviously carries unbudgeted expense.

Even with that, however, the OPPD financial performance this year because of the staff shortage is quite striking.

The department through Jan. 31 is almost $100,000 ahead of budget, the direct result of lower payroll and benefit expenses.

Ehrisman became police chief in August of 2020 on the retirement of former chief David Massey.

He was hired as a patrol officer in 1986 by then Chief of Police Rod Murray. He was the first person to have risen through the ranks to become Ocean Pines’ top cop.

Caramone is handling the investigation of the alleged robbery, with no involvement by any OPPD police officer, Viola said.

The OPPD is not the only department in Ocean Pines with staffing shortages.

In the case of the Public Works Department, Viola has said that the OPA has been able to outsource certain functions through outside contractors.

In the case of the Aquatics Department, a concerted effort is under way to recruit lifeguards and support staff for the summer season, with more than 40 openings to be filled, Viola said.