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Public Safety and Correctional Services/313
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONAL
SERVICES
Bishop L. Robinson, Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services
Vacancy, Deputy Secretary
John J. O'Neill, Assistant Secretary
Emory A. Plitt, Principal Counsel
6776 Reisterstown Rd., Suite 310
Baltimore 21215-2341 Telephone: 764-4000
TTY for Deaf: 486-0677
The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services was created in 1970 (Chapter 401, Acts
of 1970), but its origins date to the early nineteenth century, when the Maryland Penitentiary opened in
1811 (Resolution no. 32, Acts of 1804). The Maryland House of Correction was authorized in 1874 and
opened in 1879 (Chapter 233, Acts of 1874). The Maryland State Police were not organized until 1935
(Chapter 303, Acts of 1935); however, the origin of this agency dates to 1914. In that year, the General
Assembly authorized the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to employ Motorcycle Deputies to patrol the
highways. The Maryland Civil Defense Agency, although not established until 1949, was predated by
the Maryland Council of Defense, 1917-1920, 1941-1945 (Chapter 24, Acts of Special Session 1917;
Chapter 567, Acts of 1941; Chapter 602, Acts of 1943; Chapter 563, Acts of 1949).
The Department includes the following agencies: State Emergency Management and Civil Defense
Agency; Emergency Management Advisory Council; Emergency Number Systems Board; Criminal In-
juries Compensation Board; Explosives Advisory Council; State Fire Prevention Commission; State Fire
Marshal; Handgun Permit Review Board; Maryland State Police; State Clearinghouse for Missing Chil-
dren; Police Training Commission; Division of Correction; State Use Industries Advisory Committee;
Advisory Board for Correction, Parole and Probation; Commission on Correctional Standards; Correc-
tional Training Commission; Inmate Grievance Commission; Division of Parole and Probation; Mary-
land Parole Commission; Patuxent Institution; Board of Patuxent Institution; and Sundry Claims
Board.
The Department administers the Data Center for public safety, law enforcement, and correctional
agencies within the State. The Data Center provides data processing services to the State Police, Divi-
sion of Correction, Division of Parole and Probation, Patuxent Institution, State Fire Marshal, and a
number of federal and local criminal justice agencies. It provides computer terminal and computer-to-
computer data transmission between these agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, State Mo-
tor Vehicle Administration, and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.
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STATE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
AND CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCY
Edward Murray, Director
State Emergency Operating Center
Reisterstown Road and Sudbrook Lane
Pikesville 21208 Telephone: 486-4422
The State Emergency Management and Civil
Defense Agency's principal mission derives from
the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950 (Public
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Law 920, 81st Congress) as amended. The act
outlines the intent of Congress to provide a civil
defense system to protect life and property from
attack and provide relief and assistance to people
struck by disasters other than those caused by en-
emy attack.
Known as the Maryland Civil Defense Agency
from 1950 to 1970, the Agency, in its earliest
years, was primarily concerned with statewide nu-
clear attack preparedness and related missions
(Chapter 563, Acts of 1949).
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