SNOW HILL – A mutual aid agreement will allow correctional officers to assist Ocean City police during a pop-up motor event this month.
On Tuesday, the Worcester County Commissioners approved a mutual aid agreement with the Ocean City Police Department. The agreement will allow correctional officers to assist during a pop-up motor event expected in the resort Sept. 24-26.
“Part of the jail’s responsibility would be to assist with potential transport of arrestees,” Warden Donna Bounds said.
She told the commissioners she’d started discussions back in November with Ocean City law enforcement regarding the possibility of having correctional officers help during pop-up events such as the one expected Sept. 24-26. According to Bounds the jail will provide three transportation vans and an officer for each van to assist in eight hour shifts between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m.
She said a sworn law enforcement officer, either a member of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office or the Ocean City Police Department, would be in each van along with a correctional officer.
When asked what event was expected during the proposed dates, Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said it was the car enthusiast gathering formerly known as H20i, which is now being referred to as a pop-up event. While the formal H20i event held at Fort Whaley in years past has been described as well organized, thousands of non-registered participants typically come to Ocean City during that weekend. In recent years the annual event typically held in late September and early October has been associated with lawlessness and recklessness that spurred the creation of a task force in Ocean City to find ways to curb some of the illicit behavior.
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the mutual aid agreement presented by Bounds. At Tuesday’s meeting they also approved an agreement that will allow the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office to participate, as it has in the past, in the presidential inauguration in 2021.
