Blog: Police Presence in Elkridge Lacking

People think of Howard County as a nice, quaint little county with little to no crime; however, this is not the case. In Elkridge, crime has really exploded.

Vandalism and theft have gotten out of control. The only things that have not yet happened are murder and arson; but they seem just around the corner if things keep up. (Note from Elkridge Patch editor: There was an  case in 2011 on Loudon Avenue.)

One person had their 36-foot camper tagged/vandalized. In another case, a person had their farm equipment stolen off the back of their property. The thieves also stole five of their trash cans.

And the crimes continue...

Up the road about a quarter of a mile, the produce stand has also been hit. Up the road a little bit more, thieves repeatedly stole property from the construction site.

The police are leaving much to be desired as far as reports are concerned. By the Buttermilk Hill Tavern is an empty building. When a passer-by saw an individual enter the building and fail to come back out, he went to the police sub-station and told one of the officers that something strange was going on down there. The officer told the person they would check it out so the person went back down to wait for the cops to come to make sure they did not pass the place. The individual waited for 20 minutes and the police never showed up. Finally he called 911 and within two minutes, two officers came flying down and within 15 minutes, they emerged from the empty building and had arrested the intruder that was behind the building.

The Patapsco River bridge that you cross to go into Baltimore County has been tagged/vandalized by the same people that vandalized the camper and another building in Elkridge. When talking to the Howard County Police Department, it appears they only have two cops patrolling Route 1 in Elkridge per shift. When the police responded to a call of theft, the officer said to the victim, “You have too much property.” 

According to the website Trulia.com, the property crime in Elkridge is 3.48 percent of the population. One individual also told police that they should beef up patrol on Route 1 in Elkridge and the officer responded by asking, “Do we really need to?”

The individual affirmed, yet to this day he says there is no increase in police presence. When you talk to the people down in Elkridge they will tell you that crime is increasing and a lot of people will say that there needs to be a little bit more of a police presence to help control this delinquency.

This article originally appeared in the Howard Community College Times.