Radio Chesapeake:
In a hotly contested campaign for Sheriff of Dorchester County, one contender is seeking what would be his second time leading a police force. Mark Lewis was Cambridge's police chief until he retired in 2022. So Mark, why sign up for a second act?
Mark Lewis:
Well, I'm still young enough, not old enough to retire quite yet. I have my own security business that I've been running for years and I just miss the work. I miss police work.
Radio Chesapeake:
Now you're running against Sheriff James Phillips, who by the way, we've also invited for an interview. Now he's been at the post since 2002.
Mark Lewis:
Correct.
Radio Chesapeake:
24 years.
Mark Lewis:
Yes.
Radio Chesapeake:
Why do you think it's time to replace him?
Mark Lewis:
Well, as I've gone across Dorchester County, even before I decided to run, I've had so many people come to me and say he's run his course. It's time for a change, new leadership, fresh ideas, things like that. And I've had a lot of people say that I should run because I have the experience, the knowledge on how to run an agency such as the sheriff's office. So that's the reason. I just really miss the work and this is my window. If I'm going to run now, now's the time.
Radio Chesapeake:
Now, even for people who don't follow politics, it's impossible in Dorchester County not to know Mark Lewis is running for sheriff.
Mark Lewis:
Yes.
Radio Chesapeake:
And what has to be a record setting tally of road signs, yard signs, big signs and little. Lewis for sheriff's signs cover an enormous expanse in city intersections and on county roads. So I have to ask, how many signs are out there?
Mark Lewis:
We probably have 13 or 1400 yard signs that have been requested by residents of the county. And as far as the big road signs, probably 60 or 65.
Radio Chesapeake:
Wow. How much did all that set you back?
Mark Lewis:
You would have to ask my treasurer that. I kind of stay away from the money side of things, but we have been very fortunate to have business owners, prominent people in the county support our campaign. So we're very, very lucky.
Radio Chesapeake:
Now you've been running a private security company since you left the Cambridge Police. Let's say you win. You're Dorchester County Sheriff. What happens with your private security company?
Mark Lewis:
I would have to take a step back, a step away from the company and I would have to let my wife, my son and my other operating manager take care of the business for me while I'm gone.
Radio Chesapeake:
Now what kind of things does the security company do that're distinct from what police do?
Mark Lewis:
We have armed, unarmed security that we do for different businesses here in the county. We also do live scan fingerprinting. That's for people that need it for childcare, things like that. So that's the difference. We're not law enforcement. We're just providing that security for those different type businesses.
Radio Chesapeake:
So you don't see that there would be any conflict the two?
Mark Lewis:
No. No, because most of my contracts are here in the city. There'll be no conflict. I would just have to step away.
Radio Chesapeake:
Now the sheriff's office is one thing, but it oversees $20 million of total operations, including the security for the courts, emergency services and more. That's not just police work, it's administration of really distinct operations. How are you prepared to run all of that?
Mark Lewis:
I will have to have the staff to be able to run that, which a lot of the staff will be, if I win, will be the staff that's already present that have been doing it for years. So that's how we'll take care of things.
Radio Chesapeake:
But how are you going to acquaint yourself with those operations? They're very different from just straight police work.
Mark Lewis:
It's a little different from what I'm used to dealing with here in the city because that was basically straight police work, but it's budgets, it's training, it's grants. It's the things that I'm used to dealing with. The only things will be courtroom security, things like evictions and just things like that, that will be just little things that I'm not personally used to dealing with, but I'll have that staff there that has the experience to be able to do that.
Radio Chesapeake:
As I mentioned, you're up against a sheriff who's running for reelection in this Republican primary and then you would face the winner of two Democratic candidates who are competing in their primary. So where would you say you can do better than James Phillips, for starters?
Mark Lewis:
Well, and I've got nothing against Sheriff Phillips. I've worked with him for years. It's just the fact that I have a different way of policing. I'm there every day. I'll be in uniform every day because when you run an agency like that, you have to be hands on. You have to lead from the front. You have to set the example for the young men and women that are under you. You expect them to wear the uniform, be professional, you have to be that way as well. So that's how I run things. I'm structured. I have expectation of the officers that are under me.
Radio Chesapeake:
Now, last year there was a tragic incident in which a deputy left his police dog, Ender, for hours parked in his patrol car at his home on one of the hottest days of the year and when he returned from his nap, Ender was dead. What kind of policy would you institute so that something like that is prevented?
Mark Lewis:
Well, that was a very tragic incident, unfortunate incident that occurred. If I were elected a sheriff, the police car is not a kennel. If the officers out of that police car just the same way we did at CPD, the canine comes inside with the handler not to be left out in the car. Those are circumstances that if you're on a call for service, the dog will stay in the car, but when you're off, you can't go in your home and leave the dog outside for long periods of time because those vehicles, like what happened here, could break down mechanical difficulties, the air conditioner could stop working, things of that nature. So those canines cost a lot of money, a lot of training hours, a lot of expense. You cannot be neglectful with those types of things. So the canines would have to come inside with the handler.
Radio Chesapeake:
Among your priorities listed on your campaign website, you call for modernizing the sheriff's office and strengthening 911 service. What are some specific needs you're referring to there?
Mark Lewis:
Well, to modernize the sheriff's office, what we need to do is update our policy and procedures because Maryland law is changing every day dealing with ICE to juveniles, et cetera. So you have to make sure that your policy and procedures are current, up to date, because that only protects the officers when they're out doing their job, because they know you have to have those rules and regs in place so they know what they're allowed to do. If your rules and regs are not up to date, then they're working off policies that are maybe five or 10 years old, which could get the county into a lawsuit. So we're actually protecting the officers, we're protecting the county government, and we're also protecting the citizens that we deal with.
Radio Chesapeake:
You also mentioned restoring morale. What's your sense of the current morale among deputies and other staff?
Mark Lewis:
Well, and I do not like to talk about the current situation with the Sheriff's office. I just know that you have to, like I said before, you have to set the example. You have to make the deputies feel like they're important. You have to let them buy into your program. If you make them a part of your program and they're buying into it, then morale is going to go up. We're going to implement a promotional process merit-based, which is based upon years of service, written testing, oral boards from officers from other agencies, then they're promoted based upon those rankings. Currently, there's no promotional process at the sheriff's office. If the sheriff likes you, you get promoted. If he doesn't, you don't. And that causes a morale issue for those young men and women.
Radio Chesapeake:
Well, let's end with your vision. What will be the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office of our future?
Mark Lewis:
It will be one based mostly on public safety because that's our number one function. I would like to have more deputies deployed out on our county roads. Currently, there's two to three deputies on per shift and this is the largest landmass county in the state. There's no way you can go north to south in this county and cover this entire county with two to three deputies working. So my goal would be four, five, six deputies work in this county at a time so that way they're not running a hundred mile an hour from Hopers Island all the way up to Galestown. It would be to boost the manpower, boost the morale, have our sheriff's office a professional agency that the citizens of this county will be proud of.
Radio Chesapeake:
You've heard it from Mark Lewis, former Cambridge Chief of Police and current Republican candidate for Dorchester County Sheriff. Remember, primary election day is June 23rd. Early voting runs from June 11th through the 18th. Check back with us for interviews with other candidates.
For Radio Chesapeake, I'm Jim Brady.