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Crime Watch in Silver Spring
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One of the youths, 17, told Merryman that another teen had squared off with him and ridiculed him about his pregnant girlfriend.
The tormenter tried to throw a few punches, the teenager told Merryman, but he said he let it go and left.
"I'm glad you guys walked away," Merryman said, telling the youth and his red-capped buddy to just go home for the evening.
Merryman, 26, works 10-hour shifts, from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., four days a week. Some days he races from call to call. Other days, the radio is quiet, as it was by 11 p.m. last Thursday.
"Tonight is dead," he said. "I can't even get a suspended registration."
The son of a detective in Baltimore County, Merryman received a criminal justice and criminology degree at the University of Maryland in College Park. He supplements his income by giving private drum lessons, and, until recently, he drummed for an alternative rock band named No Compromise. Patrolling alone in his patrol car, he listens to an eclectic mix of music: a band called Sick Puppies, but also Beethoven. Merryman, who lives in Hagerstown, joined the Montgomery force in 2003 and was assigned to District 3 that year.
During those five years, he says, downtown Silver Spring has gotten safer. Officers regularly patrol on foot and on bicycles. Merryman makes regular swings through the area in his car.
His challenge while on patrol is to distinguish between youths who might be up to trouble and those who are honor-roll students on their way to a bookstore. As Burnett, the assistant commander says, "Everybody dresses the same."
Late in his shift, with downtown Silver Spring's streets thinned out, Merryman spotted a professorial-looking patron exiting a pub. He was walking a little funny, but it was unclear why. The officer followed him to his car and tailed him for about a dozen blocks. No weaving. No rolling through stop signs.
"He's driving like a champ," Merryman said, giving up for other pursuits.
Also during the shift, Merryman addressed two of the top crime problems his district: car break-ins and robberies. Many of the car break-ins are in the denser southern part of the district, including parking lots of apartment complexes and parking garages in downtown Silver Spring. In 2007, robbers in particular hit areas around downtown Silver Spring and near Route 29 and Briggs Chaney Road.
