SNOW HILL – Citing additional calls for service and continued growth along Route 589, Ocean Pines Association officials are seeking an increase in public safety funding from Worcester County.
Representatives from the Ocean Pines Association (OPA) told the Worcester County Commissioners they were asking for a $550,000 grant to support the community’s police department, which has an annual budget of $1.7 million. Ocean Pines Police Chief David Massey said the financial support was needed to help the department handle growing demands. In addition to a general increase in calls for service, he said that like the rest of the country his officers were seeing the effects of the country’s heroin epidemic.
“We are a year-round residential community,” he said. “The opioid crisis we’re experiencing in this country is primarily a residential problem.”
In 2016 the 17-member Ocean Pines Police Department handled 12,332 calls for service. Officials said that represented a 20 percent increase over the prior year. Massey said the department was on track to respond to even more calls this year, as during its slowest period—January and February—officers had responded to 1,000 calls each month.
Massey pointed out that calls for service didn’t always relate to crimes.
“It’s people that need help,” he said, adding that his officers were responding to a growing number of overdoses.
He said the opioid crisis was as prevalent in Ocean Pines as anywhere else.
“We’re dealing with this just like our nation’s dealing with this,” he said. “It crosses all economic boundaries.”
In 2016 Massey’s department assisted allied agencies such as the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department and the Maryland State Police with 447 calls.
“Whatever they need on 589 we will respond,” Massey said.
That, according to OPA’s acting general manager Brett Hill, is part of the reason the community needs additional funding from the county.
“While we do not object to being called upon to support the residents outside of Ocean Pines,” he said in a letter to county officials, “it does put additional strain on our already stretched resources.”
Hill said the growing demands on the department had prompted OPA to make plans to increase the physical size of its police department and put an additional cruiser on the road.
“Your support is greatly needed there,” he said.
Hill, who pointed out that 23 percent of the county’s residents lived in Ocean Pines, said the association was also seeking an increase in recreation and parks funding and tourism funding.
“We provide many services to complement county services,” he said. “I believe we come to you with some reasonable requests.”
OPA is seeking $17,500 in tourism funding—an increase of $7,500 over last year’s request—to help promote the association’s 50th anniversary and support the July 4 fireworks display. OPA is asking the county for $20,000 in recreation and parks funding. Hill said that a third of the people who utilized OPA’s recreational programs lived outside the community.
In all, OPA is asking for $1,337,171 in FY2018 funding from Worcester County.
