Training and personnel

Under Lippa's leadership the following was accomplished:

• Staff received over 50,000 hours of specialized training
• Created a position dedicated solely to the investigation and prosecution of domestic and sexual abuse
• Trained Caroline County's first Certified Crime Prevention Specialist to assist in business and residential crime prevention
• First Caroline Deputy in the history of the agency to be accepted and graduate from the prestigious FBI National Academy
• Consolidated Animal Control and E-911 Dispatch employees under a central command, resulting in cost savings
• Created the Agency's first internal Chaplain's program
• Created a diverse workplace where women and minorities comprise over 45% of the total CCSO staff, with many holding supervisory positions
• Trained the agency's first ever Nationally Certified Child Seat Installer
• Crossed trained two deputies to be certified arson investigators, another first for the agency
• Trained a deputy and secured equipment for the agency's first every polygraph technician
• Two deputies completed GREAT training, a program specifically designed to help prevent gangs and gang violence in our schools
• Expanded the School Resource Officer program

Fiscal responsibility

Under Sheriff Lippa's leadership, every effort has been made to find alternate funding in the quest to provide the best, most advanced law enforcement services to County residents.  The following are but a few examples:

• The CCSO has received over $1.6 million dollars in state and federal grants during the Lippa administration.  Among other things, this funding has partially or completely paid for:
  • New bullet proof vests for all deputies
  • In-car camera system for all patrol vehicles
  • New patrol and investigative vehicles
  • Tactical rifles
  • Literature and promotional items
  • Security lighting for seniors
  • New deputy positions
  • Stinger Spike strips
  • Radar units
  • License Plate Reader
  • Rugged laptop computers
  • Specialized training of all types
  • All-terrain vehicles
  • E-911 phone system upgrade
  • Cell phone data extraction equipment and software
  • Patrol motorcycle and equipment
  • Special investigator for domestic and sexual abuse
  • Forensic equipment and supplies
  • Approximately $220,000 for overtime DUI enforcement
  • Project Lifesaver Supplies
  • Specialty software
  • Uniform equipment
  • County Wide GIS system
  • Misc. equipment and investigator tools
• In addition to grants, the CCSO has converted seizures from drug related arrests into over $137,000 of funding which has been used for:
  • Special Investigative tools and surveillance equipment
  • Investigator Vehicles
  • Computers
  • Forensic equipment and supplies
  • Training
• In the last twelve years the Sheriff's Office has also received over $10,000,000 in state funding to help pay for Deputies wages.

Community involvement

Law enforcement isn’t merely a career. It is a principle, a mandate of humanity that all life should be protected against violence and crime. It is about connecting community, businesses, local government and sworn law enforcement in a way that focuses efforts on solving community problems together in an uniform response, sharpening our resolve against those who wish to do harm and making a safer place for all of us to live, work, and raise a family.  Under Sheriff Lippa the CCSO has committed itself to the communities it serves in the following ways:

• Helped create and attend Neighborhood Watches
• Brought the National Night Out program to Caroline County and have encouraged six area communities to participate
• Worked with the Attorney General to bring TRIAD to Caroline - this is a program designed to help combat crime against seniors
• Started a free Child Seat Inspection program to help new parents with the proper selection, installation, and use of child seats -  studies show that as many as 85% of all child seats are improperly installed or used, drastically increasing the odds of death or injury in the event of an accident
• Created the County's first Citizen's Police Academy - offers a great opportunity for the public to be informed in each aspect of law enforcement
• Became a part of the Project Lifesaver program to help families of Alzheimer and autism patients
• Created a Business Advisory Team to help identify the law enforcement needs related to the business community
• Trained a deputy to be a Certified Crime Prevention Specialist - available for business and home owners who would like a crime prevention assessment /evaluation
• Created the CCSO's first dedicated website and facebook page
• Created A Drug Abuse Resistance Education, (D.A.R.E.) position to educate our youth about the dangers of illegal drugs

Professional standards

There is perhaps no greater contrast between the current and previous administrations than in the area of professional standards. The following are but a few of the ways in which the Sheriff's Office has been transformed into a professional, modern law enforcement agency:

• Nationwide Accreditation - every four years this 187 step process involves assessors verifying all aspects of the sheriff's office operations to see that standards for efficient and effective agency operations are met
• Application process - all employment candidates must pass a thorough background check, drug screening, polygraph examination, written and physical fitness tests
• Commendation/complaint system - citizens can file both commendations and complaints by filling out a form that can be found on-line or picked up at our office
• Physical fitness program - yearly physical fitness testing to measure each deputies abilities
• Drug Screening - the CCSO participates in random drug screening of all employees