Notes from The Elkton Police Blotter

The official record of the Elkton PD, the police blotter, provides around-the-clock entries as life unfolded and the community interacted with its lawmen.  Most of these fleeting encounters would have been quickly lost in time were it not for the brief items penned into the ledgers.  This long-run of volumes provides day-by-day insight into the Elkton of an earlier era, capturing permanently in the short entries life as it unfolded.  Here, from the police blotter, are a few moments that would have been quickly lost to the shadows of time.

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ernie beck elkton police
In the dead of night, Officer Ernie Beck and Baron look for trouble while patrolling Main Street.  From award-winning Cecil Whig photo series by Richard Frear.

THE BLOTTER

April 17, 1959 – 11:30 a.m. –  Air raid alert

Aug. 25, 1960 – 10:00 a.m. – With Mayor & Commissioners on North St – Radar demonstration

Dec. 1, 1962 – 9:30 a.m. – Presidential train guard Red Mill & RR Station;

Dec. 1, 1962  – 4:00 p.m.  Christmas lights on.

Dec. 1, 1962 – 5:00 p.m. Presidential train guard Red Mill & Railroad station;

Oct. 21, 1963  – 5:00 p.m.  25 cows loose in Elkton heights Hi Ho Silver

Dec. 4, 1963 – 2:30 p.m. Complaint of beatniks acting up on Main St. Ran same out of town.

Sept. 7, 1968  – 01:13 a.m. – Cross Burning in front of courthouse

1/21/1970 – CALL – UFO

Oct. 24, 1973, 8:08 p.m.  – CALL:  UFO over 279 and North Street.

Elkton police night patrol in police blotter,
Officer Beck keeps a careful eye on the night in Elkton in 1968. This is from a Cecil Whig photo spread about the night watch in Elkton. The full-page piece by Richard Frear won photo-journalism awards.