By Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 20, 2008

What started as a simple request for a new paint job for the Calvert County Sheriff's Office cruisers has turned into a sharp battle between the county's legislative body and its top law enforcement official.

After being told twice by the Calvert commissioners that he could not paint his 22 Ford Crown Victorias black and white, county Sheriff Mike Evans (R) has gone to the Maryland attorney general's office to seek legal advice. The commissioners have appropriated about $11 million for his budget, he said, adding that he does not think they can tell him how to spend it.

"We had enough money in the budget for the cars, and all of a sudden the commissioners say, 'You're not painting our cars,' " he said. "Some of them don't realize that the sheriffing job is mine."

The three commissioners who are opposed to the new color scheme say that painting the cars is an unnecessary expense at a time when money is tight. They say that because the cars are registered in the board's name, and because they approved a budget that didn't include the expense of a paint job, the sheriff can't disregard their decision.

The paint job would cost an additional $680 per car and would be rolled out over five years as old cars are replaced, Evans said. The total cost would be $14,960, he said.

"When you look at the registration in the car, it says Board of County Commissioners on it," said Commissioner Linda L. Kelley (R-At Large), adding that Evans tried unsuccessfully to bypass the commissioners by telling the car dealership to paint the vehicles black and white. "He just doesn't get a package of money to spend as he sees fit."

Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman for the Maryland attorney general, said the office's legal counsel is looking into the matter. She said a decision could come this week.

The dispute began about two months ago, when Evans's staffers suggested the black and white would be preferable to the current white paint with decals. The reason, said Lt. Dave McDowell, is that the black-and-white cars are more visible, giving the impression to lawbreakers that there are more deputies on patrol.

"There's plenty of empirical data to support the move to the black-and-white car," said McDowell, who e-mailed a PowerPoint presentation to the commissioners detailing why the change was an important part of a broader law enforcement strategy. "The black and white is basically the uniform symbol for law enforcement known throughout the world. You think of a police car, you think of the black and white."

"It makes it look like we have more than we have," Evans said.

McDowell also has a stack of papers -- mostly accounts of how other police departments around the country have gone to the black-and-white cars -- that he said he offered to share with the commissioners in person. They never took him up on the offer, he said.

Commissioners President Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown) said he is not opposed to the idea of painting the cars, but in a weak economy, it sends the wrong message to constituents about the importance of being frugal.

"This is a time when we only should be looking at needs. We should not be looking at wants right now," he said. "If I were a taxpayer in Calvert County, now I look up and I see two colors of cars on the street, my question is, 'Why are we doing this?' "

Commissioner Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large) agreed with Parran.

"I think it's very difficult to justify painting vehicles when we are in a crunch," she said.

Two commissioners -- Susan Shaw (R-Huntingtown) and Gerald W. Clark (R-Lusby) -- said they support the move. Clark, who was initially opposed, said he was convinced by McDowell's presentation. Shaw said that, as a legislator, she is in no position to question law enforcement experience, and that she thinks her counterparts who object to the paint job on fiscal grounds are ignoring the benefits.

"That's being penny-wise and pound-foolish," she said. "It'd be one thing if the sheriff was asking for this and said, 'I just think it looks prettier,' or something. But that's not what's going on."