TOWSON, Md. — Officer Joseph Hillery and Officer Sean Rock are on foot patrol in downtown Towson five days a week, curbing loitering, checking in with businesses and building relationships.
Their route also includes the weekly farmers' market.
How you doing? Looks good. Alright, good to see you.
You online? You have a business card or anything? Yeah, well I’ll take it back to the office.
Towson has hired private security to patrol the downtown streets. Hear how they are making a difference in the community:
The patrol officers check in with the businesses and are building relationships with the people who work and shop here. They’re curbing loitering and are often first on the scene to incidents.
While they’re unarmed, they are equipped with body cameras.
“It makes me feel good to be part of the community and to make people feel safe,” says Hillery. “We are diligent about being seen to help prevent crime.”
‘The plant lady,’ Patricia Stinchcomb, has been selling her plants here for years and says she’s seen a difference since the patrol officers became a fixture last year.
“There was a lot of people out here before they came that was not real trustworthy, can I say that,” Stinchcomb says. “They’ve done a great job. I feel completely, oh, great because I know that I don’t have any problems. They’re my buds.”
The officers stop at one of several checkpoints along their route. Officer Rock has only been on the beat a few months. It’s a place he loves to visit, and now, protect.
“I love the community,” he says. “It makes me feel very good that we making a difference in the community wise. Making everyone feel safe. Attract more people here in Towson. You know, you want more people to be welcome.”
The patrol officers are contracted from a private security firm by the Towson Chamber of Commerce. There are also 50 security cameras hovering above downtown businesses.
The chamber has received more than $700,000 in county and state grants for public safety, and people here say these measures are working.
“They’re like our community ambassadors so that people feel welcome,” says Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce. “They get to know all the merchants in Towson. They’ll stop in and visit with them. If they see anybody that looks suspicious, they’ll stay around to make sure that they move along.”
The public safety program has also caught the attention of Governor Wes Moore, who issued a citation to the chamber in recognition of the crimefighting work the community has done.
“Problems that we’ve had, they’ve been in the past,” Hafford says. “We have had relatively few problems in the last year. There’s so many cameras, that there’s eyes all over. If you come in here and you cause a crime, you are gonna be caught.”
