Worcester, Somerset, Howard counties join Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network

The Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network is expanding to add three new counties, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday at the Maryland State Police barrack in Berlin.

Worcester and Somerset counties will join Dorchester County in the Lower Shore Coalition, while Howard County will join the larger network, as well. Wicomico County was already active in the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network.

The network is a "key element of Maryland’s public safety strategy," using information and data sharing to target gangs and others involved in drug, firearms and human trafficking, according to the state website. First formed in 2017, the network now includes 18 of Maryland’s 23 counties, as well as Baltimore City.

The additions of Worcester, Somerset and Howard counties were made possible by $6.5 million in state funding, making the network’s total funding $25 million this year. The money will be used, in part, to install program coordinators, data analysts and prosecutors in the three counties, according to a news release from Hogan’s office.

The network had a record year in 2022, the release said, when it “disrupted or dismantled” more than 400 criminal organizations, including:

• 68 local gangs, 26 multistate gangs and 43 international gangs.

• 197 local drug trafficking organizations, 39 multistate drug trafficking organizations and eight international drug trafficking organizations.

• 30 local firearm trafficking organizations, three multistate firearm trafficking organizations, three international firearm trafficking organizations.

In addition, the network more than doubled its cash and asset seizures, including:

• $5.7 million in cash, vehicles and other property alleged to be involved in criminal activity.

• 860 pounds of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs, with a total value of $2.2 million.

• Over 300 illegal firearms.

“Over time, we developed MCIN from an offender-based, eight-jurisdiction program into a robust information-sharing, data-driven network,” said Kunle Adeyemo, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention, Youth and Victim Services.

Part of the network’s efforts this year included the facilitation of “the largest drug bust ever on the Eastern Shore,” the release said, “including the seizure of enough heroin and fentanyl to kill more than 250,000 people.”

That case occurred in Caroline County in, with warrants served in Preston, Hurlock, Federalsburg, Lanham and Crofton in April, according to Maryland State Police. It resulted in at least nine arrests and the seizure of:

• 18 kilograms of cocaine.

• 2.7 kilograms of heroin/fentanyl.

• 5.9 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine.

• 170 pounds of marijuana.

• Approximately 34 firearms.

• An undisclosed amount of cash.

“I can assure you that we are going to continue to use every tool at our disposal to make our neighborhoods safer,” Hogan said, “And we will not stop pursuing these criminal gangs who have been terrorizing our communities.”

Hogan spoke earlier in the day at Maryland Association of Counties, or MACo, conference in Ocean City.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Governor Hogan announces $6.5 million boost for crime network