Chief Tim Robinson of the Ocean Pines Police Department

By Cindy Hoffman, Staff Writer

(Dec. 14, 2023) In the continuing effort to recruit candidates to the Ocean Pines Police Department, Chief Tim Robinson has been met with challenges and successes.

Currently, he has one officer coming on board in December and another who will go through the academy starting in January. If all goes well, that candidate will graduate in June and join the Ocean Pines force next summer.

The officer arriving in December is no stranger to Robinson, who taught him in his first class at the Police Academy in Salisbury.  Robinson will be the one pinning a badge on him on graduation day, Dec. 18.

Even with this success, Robinson said he is still struggling to recruit and said recruitment is a challenge everywhere.

In a report released this year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that the “country face[s] an historic crisis in recruiting and retaining qualified candidates.”

Robinson said the department gets numerous applications, but the process for becoming a sworn officer is extensive. An applicant must pass a written, oral and physical fitness test. These are followed by a criminal background check, psychological evaluation, a polygraph to verify the applicant’s background and a medical exam.

It’s only after a candidate passes all of these tests that a conditional offer of employment can be made and the applicant be accepted into the Police Academy at Wor-Wic Community College.

“A good candidate can have their pick of law enforcement jobs,” Robinson said.

The academy has classes every six months. Robinson hopes that within 18 months of his start date with Ocean Pines, he will be in good shape with staffing.

Fortunately, Ocean Pines is ranked as one of the safest places to live in the country, according to the New Home Source, National Council for Home Safety and Security and Safewise.

“It’s our job to keep it that way,” Robinson said.

Beyond recruitment, he is working on updating department policies and has hired Lexipol, a company that develops comprehensive, continuously updated policies for public safety agencies.

He has also obtained government grants to update the Ocean Pines Police website, which he plans to make more transparent, interactive and accessible for the public.

For information on recruitment, visit oceanpines.org/web/ pages/police-departments