A SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE SHADOW
St. Mary’s County Sheriff Steve Hall announced the newly appointed Corporal Julie Yingling as the SRO for 19 elementary schools. This was his first action publicly made as an accomplishment of his administration. However, he fails to mention the Adoptive School Officer Program that was implemented under his watch more than a decade ago. The Adoptive School Officer program was created to get more officers into the school to interact with students, faculty, and parents to enhance the relationship between the community and Law Enforcement. This program was introduced and grandstanded by Sheriff Hall, who said this would be his “Legacy.”
Unfortunately, the program was far from it as the Commander “Steve Hall” of the Special Operations Division, where he was a Captain, delegated the program off to a variety of different supervisors who solicited sheriff’s Office personnel ranging from Deputies to Correction Officers and a few troopers as the assigned Adoptive School Program. Most of the deputies who participated in this program were never given any specialized training, never required scheduled visits to work with school administrators nor where they required to attend special events with-in their designated assigned schools.
Most deputies who were assigned as Adoptive School Officers were not granted overtime to attend their assigned school on off hours and would never show up to their school for any premise checks or interactions with staff. Many Elementary schools had no clue who their officers were assigned to their schools, and when Law Enforcement was needed, the Public School Safety and Security would contact the sheriff’s office to have an officer not assigned to the school to respond and handle the complaint.
But with a few of the schools, they did get some attention, mostly from officers whose kids attended the school and would show up to lunch for the specific grade their child was in and leave with no intentions of meeting with other grade levels.
Schools that received the highest oversights were the areas where the Cops Unit and Town of Leonardtown Community Police Officer, and that was about it. The most visited schools were Carver Elementary, Lexington Park Elementary, Evergreen Elementary School, Duke Elementary School, Hollywood Elementary, and Leonardtown Elementary. Weirdly enough, Sheriff Tim Cameron and Steve Hall would do an annual Book Reading or award ceremonies at Greenview Knowles and Green Holly Elementary. Hall would coordinate K-9 handler Cpl. Todd Fleenor to attend with him occasionally for his visits to feed his ego and grandstand.
After the Sandy Hook Tragedy, the Sheriff’s Office and Public School System began a north and south end patrol overtime sign-up sheet to have officers check on as many schools as they could within a four-hour period. This check was completed by roving the parking lot, walking into the school’s main office, checking in with office staff, and then leaving the school quickly onto the next as visibility. No true security plan, no community policing or targeted enforcement. Mostly during these overtime events, the officer would sit with their cruisers watching Netflix, surfing the internet, or stopping to eat a meal to pass the time on their overtime wages.
The Adoptive School Program was a Failure under the watch of Steve Hall and even more of a failure with the appointment of Corporal Julie Yingling, who is said to be on the Brady List for integrity issues in her involvement with falsifying time sheets and overtime. Cpl. Yingling who was a lieutenant and demoted to Cpl. She was forced to do patrol for a short time and eventually placed in the position of Public Information Officer to hide her and prevent her from ever testifying again.
As the PIO Sheriff Tim Cameron had to hire a civilian PIO, Jason Babcock, who actually knows how to create, document, and report to the media and public. Inside sources allege that Cpl. Yingling would just sit in the office all day while Babcock did the work.
It is rumored she was placed in this cushy position so her husband, Captain David Yingling, could work at a higher capacity for Camerons Administration, and she could be home to take care of their growing children.
Now Cpl. Yingling has been identified as non-essential yet again with her history of integrity issues and is assigned as a School Resource Officer to attend 19 schools on a rotating basis on a Monday – Friday assignment with a flexible schedule yet again. Hopefully, her time sheets and overtime are accurately accounted for in return for this preferential treatment.
Insiders from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department predicted that Hall was planning to move Cpl. Yingling out of the position of PIO and forcing her to do more work. St. Mary’s County parents shouldn’t be thrilled with this major announcement of our brand new Convict Sheriff Steve Hall, however instead should be demanding more in regard to our children’s safety.
THE ST. MARY’S SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT PRESS RELEASE ON SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER
Sheriff Steven A. Hall is proud to announce the expansion of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s
Office School Resource Officer program into the county’s public elementary schools.
The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office provides School Resource Officers at the three public
high schools and four public middle schools in St. Mary’s County. This week, Cpl. Julie
Yingling, a 25-year veteran of the agency, was added as a School Resource Officer to serve at
the 19 public elementary schools in St. Mary’s County on a rotating basis.
“It’s the one thing in the School Resource Officer program that needed to be addressed and this
is the first step,” Sheriff Hall said.
“Cpl. Yingling brings the skill set and expertise to provide the resources back into our School
Resource Officer program to the families, the students, and the school staff. It’s incredibly
satisfying. This is my 30th day as Sheriff, and the program started today,” Sheriff Hall said on
Thursday.
While visiting students at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School in Mechanicsville, Sheriff
Hall told a first-grade class that the new School Resource Officer will be “checking up on you
guys to make sure you’re happy and safe.”
Many of the students during the visit told the Sheriff that they already love police officers.
“We love you. That’s why we’re here,” Sheriff Hall told a kindergarten class there.
St. Mary’s County Public Schools Superintendent J. Scott Smith said, “St. Mary’s County Public Schools is tremendously thankful for the continued commitment to our partnership and the support of Sheriff Hall and the men and women of the St. Mary’s County
Sheriff’s Office.
The addition of a dedicated school resource officer for our elementary schools is
a significant enhancement for school safety and security. Together, we are committed to the
continued expansion of all school security initiatives including School Resource Officers, adopt-
a-school officers, and uniformed security for all of our schools.”
In the 1998-1999 school year, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Mary’s County
Board of Education entered into a collaborative agreement that assigned a deputy to each of the
three public high schools. The program was expanded in the 2005-2006 school year to add two
more deputies, who split their time among the four public middle schools.
In the 2019-2020 school year, two more deputies were added, providing a School Resource
Officer at each of the four public middle schools.
The new School Resource Officer for the public elementary schools will visit the campuses on a
rotating basis, including the Chesapeake Charter School. The Sheriff’s Office also continues its
Adopt-A-School program, where deputies volunteer to check on a specific elementary school
during their regular duties.
