MOU between County Executive, Eastern Shore Undercover nixed amid law enforcement outcry

WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. – An agreement between Wicomico County Executive and Eastern Shore Undercover (ESU), a popular local Facebook page, is being walked back. This comes after law enforcement officials and members of the public expressed concerns about the memorandum of understanding (MOU).

“We have paused our MOU with Eastern Shore Undercover—not dissolved it, but paused it,” Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano announced at a press conference Thursday. “Mr. Earl Campbell [the owner of ESU] has graciously returned the county radio.”

Calling For Collaboration

On July 22nd, Giordano sent an email to various local news agencies, including WMDT, reading in part,

“Wicomico County police radio communications have gone encrypted for various reasons including officer safety and civilian information protection. While we understand the importance and necessity of encryption, we also recognize the importance of transparency and hearing to PIA (Public Information Act) requirements.”

The email continued, “We wanted to reach out to the various news agency [sic] to see if they would like to partner with us at the County level to adhere to transparency and PIA,” setting a deadline to reply by July 26th.

Then, on July 26th, Giordano’s office announced that it had signed the MOU with ESU via press release.

Under the MOU, ESU was bound to publish Wicomico County radio communications from the main dispatch channel at a delay of 15 to 30 minutes. Additionally, ESU agreed to participate in public engagement, and publishing information about public events. The MOU stipulated that ESU would not post any sensitive information, including social security numbers, and identifiable medical or psychological information, at no cost to the public.

MOU Signed with Eastern Shore Undercover

Giordano says the concerns that prompted the MOU were brought up by legal counsel. The attorney reportedly expressed concerns to Giordano that Wicomico County law enforcement was not adhering to the requirements of the Maryland Public Information Act.

Additionally, Giordano says ESU was chosen for the MOU in part because of the page’s wide reach on social media.

“This was done to improve the safety of our law enforcement officers, to improve the safety of our citizens, to keep our citizens more informed, and done in a fiscally responsible way,” Giordano said. “The benefits are that you can avoid the traffic jam on Route 50, or if there’s a missing child, we can have 103,000 people looking for that missing child.”

Law Enforcement Concerns

On Tuesday, Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis convened a panel of local law enforcement leaders before the County Council. The group included Dorchester County Sheriff James Phillips, Somerset County Sheriff Ronald Howard, and Worcester County Sheriff Matthew Crisafulli.

In his presentation, Sheriff Lewis outlined how his department went about the encryption process, and why he says it was so crucial to do so.

The Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office officially switched to fully encrypted communications on July 9th. Sheriff Lewis says it took about 15 minutes to reprogram each radio, and that there were more than 200 devices to get through.

“It is industry standard,” Sheriff Lewis said. “We were, quite frankly, the only ones in this entire region that were going to be left behind.”

And although those radios are now only accessible to authorized Wicomico County personnel, Sheriff Lewis says other agencies may also have access to the channels from time to time. For example, he says, when allied agencies assist in responses, they may be granted access to Wicomico County’s radio communications to ensure safety and efficiency.

“We went to encrypted communication because there is a lot of sensitive information—medical information, juvenile information—that is federally protected,” Sheriff Lewis said. “[Public access to those communications] truly, truly compromises my deputies’ safety, our first responders’ safety, and our ability to do our job when we arrive on the scene.”

Crossed Wires and Pointed Fingers

Sheriff Lewis says he feels blindsided by the MOU. He adds that Giordano’s email communications leading up to the signing of the agreement did not make a clear invitation for local law enforcement and relevant stakeholders to get involved.

“Not one email requested me to respond, not one email requested a meeting with me, and not one email ever suggested the remote possibility of providing a civilian of this county with a police encrypted radio,” Sheriff Lewis said.

Giordano refutes this, however, and read an email she sent to Sheriff Lewis and his command staff aloud at a Thursday press conference. In the email, she wrote that law enforcement were the experts, and she would defer to them for any suggestions.

“No one from the Sheriff’s Office has reached out, nor have they acknowledged the email, scheduled a meeting with our attorney, or with me to alleviate some of these concerns,” Giordano said.

According to Sheriff Lewis, there was no need to change the way police information was shared with the public in the first place.

“I’ve never had any formal complaints come across my desk in 18 years, regarding anyone’s dissatisfaction with any PIA [requests] that we have provided in a timely manner, per our policy, which is, in fact, the industry standard,” Sheriff Lewis said.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead, Giordano says she plans to follow up with the Sheriff’s Office to determine next steps. Giordano says she’s also in support of the County utilizing Broadcastify, an online first responder communications streaming service, that delays its publishing.

However, in getting a quote for how much Broadcastify would cost the County, Giordano says the price tag was about $150,000. She explained that each of the four agencies that would have communications published on Broadcastify would need to install a separate radio tower to do so.

As for the fate of Eastern Shore Undercover, Campbell tells WMDT that this doesn’t change things for him, and he will keep posting as usual.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Lewis says he has been in talks with attorneys and is pursuing possible legal action against the County Executive.

“What she has done, and I’m going to prove it, is not only unethical but likely illegal,” Sheriff Lewis said. “We are working feverishly to confirm or dispel what we believe to be the case.”