Responding to multiple calls in neighborhoods and speeders, an Anne Arundel County Police Officer brought along a journalist to observe his job on October 30.

     “Everyday on this job is different and I love the freedom I have to find my own crime,” said Officer Keith Fultz. He is a three-year veteran of the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

     “The average person can only go a quarter of a mile in a car without breaking a law,” said Fultz. Thirty seconds later, he was typing in the tag numbers of a white Ford.

     He said he normally does not pull over cars for just one offense but that day he pulled over the Ford because a male drove the car when a female registered the vehicle. After talking to the man, he let him go with a warning because the driver had just gotten back from a tour of duty in Iraq.

     The next call came across the radio as a noise disturbance of dirt bikes in a residential neighborhood. Arriving at the scene, Fultz does not hear the bikes and decides to clear the call and leave. Upon making a U-turn at the end of the street, he observes two people trying to pull a child into a minivan. He immediately questions the 16- and 19-year-olds. When they do not answer the questions, he “gets a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.” As it turns out, the 16- and 19-year-old were not trying to bring harm to the child so they released.

     “As a police officer you have to pay attention to everything,” Fultz said. “I came for a dirt bike call but those guys could have been doing something wrong,” he said. Fultz also said  he is “obligated to stop and figure out what is happening when I see things like that.”

     Fultz continues to drive around his post observing the people, when a call comes over the radio for assistance at a scene of a stabbing. Switching on his lights and sirens, he speeds up to 110 miles per hour. When he gets there, the victim is lying conscious in the street with stab wounds to his left arm and right leg. Emergency workers transported the victim to Mount Sinai Medical Center. The suspects, described as “three black guys” were not found.

     “The stabbing victim was probably a member of DBI based on the visible tattoos,” said Fultz. Dead Man Inc. is a “rising white gang across the country” with its beginnings in the Maryland prison system. The gang is now plagued with members who “don’t believe in the core values” according to a documentary, “Gangland,” on the History Channel.

     On April 24, 2009, Baltimore Sun Crime Beat reporter Peter Hermann published a blog post about the “Gangland” series. Hermann said, “According to the members, the gang was started by a man named Perry Roark, 40, who court records show is from Bel Air and is currently being held at the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, known as Supermax.” The gang started in the late 1990s and its main beliefs were anti-government, anti-religion, homosexuals, rapists, and snitches, according to the blog.

     Before stopping for a spiced pumpkin latte at Duncan Donuts, Fultz and other officers went to North County High School in Glen Burnie, Md. where the varsity football team played their rival team Glen Burnie High School. Fultz said even though school security was there, the police “check it out just to be safe because things can quickly escalate.” 

     After leaving the football game, getting his latte, and running a few tags through the MVA Browse system on the computer in his car, Fultz begins to check his post again.

    “I always check the Motel 6 because it’s notorious for drug activity and prostitution,” said Fultz. Just one month ago, he intercepted a drug deal at the hotel where police took nearly $50,000 worth of cocaine “off the market.” Fultz drove around the hotel eight times during his shift.

    The next call would take him again into a residential neighborhood where a neighborhood watch member was convinced a group of adolescents were “up to no good” by hanging out on the porch of one of a juvenile’s home. Fultz mediated the groups and since nothing wrong had occurred, there was no further reason to stay. As Fultz drove away, he used his loud speaker to say “Glen Burnie High School Rocks,” to the group of North County High School students. 

     “They are going to like police more after that,” said Fultz. “Part of my job is to be an ambassador and make people have more positive experiences with the police,” Fultz said. He said the more people think positively of police; the more likely they are to come to them instead of resorting to violence and helping to solve crimes. 

     The last call of the night was to a residential home where “two obviously drunk women were causing problems,” said Fultz. When he arrived, he and another officer began to figure out what was going on. When the officers could not accomplish much in talking to the women, they asked everyone who did not live at the residence to leave. The woman abiding there skipped up the driveway to the house and said she was “gone to bed.”

     “I really expected tonight to be crazier,” said Fultz at nearly 11 p.m. The 26-year-old anticipated Halloween to be more chaotic. He said he was glad he was off for the next three days.

     To participate in a ride along, contact the district in which you would like to ride. Fultz said, “Most police officers love citizens to ride with them because a lot of people just don’t understand what we do.