Crime & Safety

Baltimore Co. Police Pull Officers from PAL Centers

Officers will still be active at the centers, but Rec and Parks will run the facilities beginning June 1 as a way to save money and put more police on the street.

Baltimore County officials are confident that youngsters will be able to use the programs and services at the Mars Estates Police Athletic League in Essex for years to come.

However, beginning June 1, the day-to-day operations of the Mars Estates center, along with the county’s other eight PAL centers, will be handed over to the Department of Rec and Parks.

County police officials said Baltimore County is backing away from police-operated PAL centers as a way of saving money in tight economic times, as well as more efficiently deploying the department’s officers on the street.

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“We don’t expect those that utilize the PAL centers to notice any real changes to how they are operated,” Baltimore County Police spokesman Lt. Robert McCullough said. “Police officers will still be involved with programs with the centers, they just won’t be stationed there eight hours a day, five days a week.”

McCullough said the Rec and Parks department is better suited to handle the nuts-and-bolts operation of the centers, and do it at a much cheaper price than with officers at the helm.

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It cost the county police $1.6 million to run the centers last year, a figure expected to drop to about $840,000, McCullough said, mainly due to the Rec and Parks employees' lower salaries.

McCullough said county police will remain very active at the PAL centers, and that officers at the local precincts will be encouraged to get involved in outreach programs.

However, the move is still a big step for the county, the last jurisdiction in the Baltimore Metropolitan region to offer a full-time PAL program that also includes separate centers from Rec and Parks.

PAL Centers have been active in Baltimore County since 1977 and offer an array of free activities to youths between 8 and 17. The goal of PAL is to develop positive attitudes toward police officers by providing Baltimore County youths with role models.

McCullough said that mission would not change. But, he added that the police now have several additional ways they interact with at-risk youths, including through the DARE drug prevention program and through the expansion of schools' resource officers.

“Outreach is still very important to us, but this move helps us put officers back on the street,” McCullough said. “We are expecting many retirements in the next few years, and this move will allow us to offset some of those vacancies without relying too much on overtime to fill those voids.”


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