(12/18) At the December 8th Town Council meeting, Burgess Chad Weddle told the town council that the state had turned down the towns request to assign a sixth State Trooper to Walkersville. There are currently four patrolmen and one supervisor specifically assigned to the Resident Trooper Program.

The request came about as a result of growing concerns the ability of the assigned troopers to provide 24-hour coverage. While the current Troopers assigned to Walkersville do their best to always cover the town, there are inevitably gaps in their availability. Council members pushed for the idea of adding another member to the program so that they can reliably provide this around-the-clock coverage.

Walkersville has utilized the Resident Trooper Program for several decades now, with the force expanding in 2017 from three to five members. Walkersville is the only municipality in Frederick County with the Resident Trooper Program according to Town Manager Sean Williams, who said they have longstanding support from locals who prefer the presence of Troopers in town.

Woodrow Jones, the Secretary of State Police told the town that "unfortunately the volume of calls for service within Frederick County and across the MDSP Northern Command do not allow for us to add an additional Trooper to the Walkersville Residential Program. MDSP will continue to support the efforts to keep the citizens of Walkersville safe. We will continue to do our best to provide outstanding law enforcement services to prevent criminal acts and traffic crashes while thoroughly investigating crime within Maryland."

While the State continues to allocate manpower to the areas where crime concerns are greatest, this leaves Walkersville out of the running, Weddle said. "If littering and speeding are our greatest concerns, then I am pretty happy with where we stand," he added.

Whether one relies on the State Police like Walkersville or the County Sheriff’s Department, like Emmitsburg, for local police coverage, there has always been concurs about coverage. In both cases, emergency call from surrounding areas can, and often do draw the ‘dedicated’ police coverage outside of the town’s limits. The only way to prevent this, and insure 24-hours, 7-days a week coverage, is for towns to retain their own stand alone police force, like Thurmont and Taneytown do.

Walkersville spent $1,253,133 for the five troopers provide by the State Police, while Emmitsburg paid $303,000 for two Sheriff's Deputies. Thurmont’s police force of 11 officers and a K-9 unit cost the town $1,233,500, while Taneytown pays $1,794,000 for its 15 officer police department.