Talk:Prince George's County Sheriff's Office

Content dispute

There is a bit of a content dispute regarding this article. There has been a minor revert war, but, for the meantime, let's work with what was there in the first place. Speaking of which, I've cleaned up and moved around some information while leaving the general content in tact for the moment. Let's also try to keep cool heads over this, and not take things personally. --Tom (talk - email) 03:48, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Doable (SP?). I would prefer to have the fallen heros as their own section, but the rest looks great. Can you take that box off the top of the page? Sallicio (talk) 04:51, 10 December 2007 (UTC)Sallicio

As an encyclopedia, a neutral and unbiased tone is necessary, which is why "Fallen Heroes" is an inappropriate name choice. However, since their deaths were a significant moment in the department's history, it seems appropriate that they should be mentioned under "history". --Tom (talk - email) 05:28, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

looked up definition of "B" class articles, this article appears to fit the criteria. Made change from "start" to "B" (thanks to user:Tom for the help) Sallicio (talk) 16:36, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Sallicio

SWAT raid of Berwyn Heights Mayor

I have attempted to rewrite the portion of the article describing the SWAT raid on the Berwyn Heights mayor that occurred in July, incorporating many citations from a wide variety of news accounts, and with a neutral point of view that neither decries the event, nor underplays its extent or gravity.

I have removed one statement which was contradicted by many media accounts ("Calvo's mother-in-law was observed retrieving a package with 32 pounds of marijuana that was delivered to his doorstep.") and one statement which appeared to lack substantiation in the citation immediately following ("The deputies remained within the boundaries of Maryland law and departmental general orders and as such the deputies actions and the shooting of the dogs were deemed justified.")

I have also restored the description of the event as a "raid", rather than the much more muted "executed a warrant." Most news accounts (including many reputed outlets such as The Washington Post, CNN, Associated Press, and Chicago Tribune) describe the event as a "raid". (A glance through the footnotes demonstrates this clearly.) Further, many characteristics of this event--including a SWAT team breaking in the door without knocking in, the undisputed lack of a warrant provided on the scene, rifles aimed at an unclothed resident, weapons fired, extensive interrogation of restrained residents and blood tracked through a house--go far beyond that typically associated with search warrants, and are much more aptly described as a "raid".

I have also added several sub-headings to the "History" section. Hundreds of years of history without sections providing reference made the section quite hard to follow.

Spril4 (talk) 03:23, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I do not see how anyone could describe as "non-notable" an incident conducted by the article subject that has been the subject of hundreds of newspaper articles and television segments including—as cited—the Chicago Tribune, CNN, Seattle Times, Washington Post, UK Guardian, and the Australian. (Most of these citations were deleted in today's revisions.) Given this broad coverage, clearly this incident is notable, not just in Prince George's County, but throughout the nation. Further, I note today's edits retained descriptions actions led by the County Police which were complimentary to law enforcement (related to the arrest they made in this case after determining that the target of their raid had no involvement in drug trafficking), but deleted all information not complimentary to law enforcement (the Police Department's contradictory claims first that they had a no-knock warrant, then that such warrants do not exist) because it was "irrelevant to PGSO (Prince George's County Sheriff's Office)".

This raid is probably the most broadly-covered notable action ever performed by the Prince George's County Sheriff's Department. The raid's questionable legal grounds are an essential component of the incident and its notability. As covered internationally, the FBI is investigating the raid and the alleged legal justification provided by the Sheriff's Department. These questions have been covered in highly reputable news outlets thousands of miles away, and it is reasonable for this article to include these highly notable aspects of the issue. Best regards. Spril4 (talk) 03:17, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

RE: Raid. The basic meat of the story is still there, as is the controversial actions of the deputies. It is not as relevant as you say. It has fallen out of the news and is not worthy of such attention within this wiki. As it stands, I believe that it is still too prevalent in the article, but I did not summarize anymore than I did because it is still relatively fresh. Many of the cited references will be unavailable because the media will be deleting them from their databases. Let's keep our eye on the ball on and keep the information pithy. Happy editing to all!--Sallicio^{$\color {Red}\oplus$} 19:17, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Further, one must understand that the Sheriff's Office SWAT team was only assisting the County Police with the service of the search warrant. The entire initiation and investigation was from the County Police. Their SWAT team was busy elsewhere so they went "SWAT-shopping." They first went to Greenbelt. But the city's SWAT had no jurisdiction outside of the city limits unless it was involved in a task force. They then went to the Sheriff's Office, who called in their SWAT members (that are on-call because they don't have a full-time team). They (the Sheriff's team) came in, received a briefing, saw the warrant, and served it. That's why some of the information was "irrelevant" relative solely to the Sheriff's Office. The information that was irrelevant to the PGSO was omitted, the other was not (e.g., the treatment of the mayor, the controversial shooting of the dogs, etc.). So it was not edited to be "complimentary to law enforcement." It is important to understand that as "fair and balanced" as the media claims, it rarely is. It is also important for relatively new (or inexperienced) editors to understand that this is an encycolpedia and not a newspaper. Cheers!--Sallicio^{$\color {Red}\oplus$} 23:51, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Here is a copy of my condensed version. Where did I edit it to, "... [delete] all infrormation not complimentary to law enforcement"? For brevity, I have highlighted sections that are not favorable.

"On 2008-07-29, a SWAT Team from the Sheriff's Office, executing a search warrant and assisting the separate County Police, conducted a raid on the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. The raid was initiated after the Mayor brought a package into his home delivered by the SWAT team. A drug-sniffing dog in Arizona had determined that the package—addressed to the Mayor's wife—contained 32 pounds of marijuana. While taking control of the residence, Sheriff's deputies shot Calvo's two pet Labrador retrievers, including one who was cited in many news accounts as running away from officers.[6] Calvo and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and questioned for several hours, with Calvo wearing just underwear.[7]

Police Chief High stated his department did not know the home was owned by the mayor and his wife.[8] During the interrogation, Calvo repeatedly requested to see the search warrant, but his lawyer stated no copy was provided until three days later. Calvo stated that officers did not believe he was the Mayor and for a time refused his request that they contact the Berwyn Heights Police Department (which was unaware of the raid) to confirm his identity.[9] Prince George's County Police later arrested two men in a drug trafficking plan involving the shipment of large parcels of marijuana to addresses of uninvolved residents. [10] The Sheriff's Department and County Police have stated that the Berwyn Heights raid was proper because of the large quantity of drugs involved.[11]

On 2008-08-07 Mayor Calvo called for a federal investigation of the incident by the United States Department of Justice.[12] On 2008-08-08 Calvo and his wife were cleared by County Police of any wrongdoing.[13]. The local chapter of the NAACP also requested an investigation.[14] In early August, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a civil rights investigation into the incident."

List of sheriffs

Somebody should add a tabled list of sheriffs of the PGCSO, like with other sheriff's office articles. I've done some digging, using the Wayback Machine, and found several names: James V. Aluisi, Alonzo D. Black II, Michael A. Jackson, Melvin C. High. If somebody can find their dates of tenure and add them as a table, it would be much appreciated. Illegitimate Barrister (talk) 12:02, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

• UPDATE: Found the list! Although, it only goes back to 1946. Illegitimate Barrister (talk) 08:59, 2 September 2013 (UTC)
•  Done List has been added. Illegitimate Barrister (talk) 00:33, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

Sleeve ranks

I noticed from some photographs that some of the higher-ranking PGSO personnel have sleeve ranks, like naval officers. Can somebody clarify as to how many sleeve stripes correspond to which rank? On second thought, I think they might be service stripes denoting years of service. Anyway, thanks! Illegitimate Barrister (talk) 16:01, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

They are service stripes... "hash marks" denoting years of service. Good looking out! It's me...Sallicio!^{$\color {Red}\oplus$} 23:17, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

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Good article reassessment

Isaidnoway (talk) 00:12, 2 March 2024 (UTC)