Almost three months in the making, Aberdeen Mayor Michael Bennett's 28-member transition team released its report to the city council earlier this week.
The report goes into great detail about city operations, finances and water and sewer needs, making a number of recommendations. Missing, however, is a review of the police department, even though an entire subcommittee from within the 28-member team, whose members included a former Havre de Grace police chief and a former judge, was supposed to perform such a review.
Instead, the last section of the report, labeled Police Department Review, consists of a one-paragraph explanation that the committee decided to forgo its review in deference to Bennett and his 37 years of experience in law enforcement.
Art Helton, the transition team's chairman, said Thursday the panel backed off on a wholesale review of the police department mainly, as the report stated, because Bennett wanted to handle this one himself.
Helton said he concurs with the approach taken, noting there was considerable upheaval surrounding the department in the weeks following Bennett's election last November, when there were press reports that Chief Randy Rudy might be on his way out.
"It got sticky, so it was decided to let things cool down," Helton added.
According to the report, and confirmed by Helton and Rudy, Bennett has already met with the chief and discussed the direction he wants the department to go. In a telephone interview last week, Rudy said he was satisfied with the discussions and looks forward to continuing as chief.
"I wasn't ready to retire; I have a few more years to give to Aberdeen," Rudy said.
The chief wouldn't get into specifics, but as The Record first reported several weeks ago, the street surveillance camera program initiated on the orders of the previous mayor, Fred Simmons, is being put on indefinite hold. Helton likens what was spent so far on the camera system to a small down payment for which a whole lot more money is needed.
"It's debatable if it’s very effective to spend more money" on cameras, Helton said, as opposed to spending it "on more troops."
Bennett also told Rudy the chief is responsible for eliminating any cliques in the department, his main concern being the special operations team, another creation and favorite of the previous mayor.
As the transition report also recommended, Helton said Bennett will move ahead with reforming Aberdeen's law enforcement officers pension system, or LEOPS, so Aberdeen police officers have the same length of service requirements and comparable retirement benefits that the sheriff's office and the state police have.
The LEOPS issue had been a sticking point between Bennett and the Aberdeen Fraternal Order of Police chapter, but Helton said the union should have known it wasn't going to get any meaningful changes as long as Simmons was mayor because of his poor relations with Harford County Executive David Craig.
"I think we are well on the way to resolving this, but there has to be cooperation with the county on funding," Helton said. "The changes are going to be expensive, and some of it has to be shared."
He added it’s in the city's best interests, and the county's, "for everyone to be on the same page" when it comes to equity in benefits among all local police agencies, which will cut down on turnover, especially in the smaller departments like Aberdeen’s.
Helton said he believes the chief knows what Bennett expects, in terms of performance, from the department.
"They sat down and talked eyeball to eyeball," he added. "I think he [Rudy] is smart enough to understand the situation."
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