Thomas H. Mogle., Jr. served as the sheriff of Cecil County from 1966 to 1970. When he was elected to the top law enforcement post in 1966, he assumed charge of an agency that was critically under resourced. Although the small force consisted of four deputies and no county provided police cars, he put an emphasis on professionalizing his command.
The Cecil Democrat published a 1967 piece about what was needed to move the agency forward. In this nearly 50-year-old chat with the Sheriff, he sketched out the minimum needs.
The Department required at least 55 personnel to handle its functions, including answering complaints, patrolling, serving papers, providing court security, and maintaining the jail, Mogle noted. That force included 27 road officers, with one assigned to each of the nine election districts, around-the-clock as a patrol beat. “They would answer complaints and could do a great deal to prevent crime.”
Eight men should staff the 100-year old jail so two deputies would be on duty. “There are just not enough people in this office. When four phones ring and the office is full of prisoners being brought in, one man behind the desk can’t handle it all. We need a turnkey and someone on the radio and telephone.”
Judiciary related duties for the Circuit Court and the magistrates required eight men to handle courts and serve papers. There was also clerical support.
One of his problems was hiring and keeping qualified personnel. A deputy in 1967 made $1.50 an hour ($4,000 a year) while a clerk for a magistrate received $2.00 an hour. The Sheriff estimated annual starting pay should be between $6,000 and $7,000.
When the reporter asked if an annual budget of $279,000 for staffing wasn’t rather high, the former Maryland State Trooper remarked, “it isn’t cheap but nothing worthwhile is going to be free.” He also noted that there were other costs, as there should be county owned cars and 13 were required.
Harford County had 24 men in their Sheriffs’ Department and county owned vehicles, he noted. They have “police running out of their ears; they have police departments in Bel Air, Aberdeen, and Havre de Grace, they have the state police, and they still hire 24 men for a county-wide police force.”
“Of course the county would be getting a lot better service in return for the expenditures. With a force similar to the one outlined we could almost wipe out crime in this county,” the sheriff suggested. When asked what he felt his chances of getting some of the men and equipment were, especially in light of the new economy moves the commissioners were making, he said: “Neither I nor the next six Sheriffs in this county will ever see this.”
He concluded that he wouldn’t run again unless drastic changes were made for the “betterment of the people and the police force. I thought I could help the county. I didn’t realize what the situation was in this office, I couldn’t. . . . ”
Continuing to remark about the situation, he said, “There was nothing here when I came, not even a flag. I’ve ordered a flag and pole now. It will cost $55 and if the county refuses to pay for it I will.”
Samuel du Pont wrote the paper to support the “overworked sheriff and his underpaid, overworked men” the next week. “Imagine, just five men to cover the entire county, with its hundreds of roads and hundreds of square miles! This doesn’t mean five men per shift, but five men altogether. Now, start figuring three shifts a day. You want around-the-clock police protection don’t you? There are two few men and too much work — and then we have the gall to criticize our sheriff and his deputies! We don’t even provide our men with official cars, as most other counties do. We’ll soon be expecting them to shake tambourines on street corners for contributions, like the Salvation Army folks. We have refused the sheriff sufficient manpower.”
Mogle accomplish one objective the next year. After lengthy political wrangling between the county commissioners and the Sheriff, the Department entered the automobile age on July 1, 1968, when four marked police cruisers went in service. For the first time in the history deputies drove official vehicles. The county’s small law enforcement staff was catching up with Elkton, North East, Port Deposit, and Rising Sun, places that had long since provided police transportation.
Sheriff Thomas Mogle died on Oct. 23, 2008
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