Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn Scruggs and Deputy Secretary for Administration Joseph Sedtal appear Thursday before a joint hearing of House and Senate committees on the death of Parole Agent Davis Martinez. Photo by Steve Crane.
House and Senate members grilled the secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services on Thursday over her department’s halting steps to ensure the safety of parole agents after one was killed May 31 in the line of duty.
The joint hearing by the budget and judicial committees of the House and Senate was the second on the subject, after an October hearing that Del. Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) called “woefully inadequate.” But lawmakers hoping for more substantive answers in this second hearing said they were disappointed.
“I’m hearing a lot of fluff, but not a lot of substance,” Sen. William Folden (R-Frederick) said to Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs