Lower Shore Public Safety Press Conference

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Remarks as delivered
​Delivered on Tuesday, April 7, 202​​6​

Good morning, everybody.

I want to first just say thank you to Sheriff Lewis for the remarkable work that you have done.

These things do not happen by accident.

And these things happen because of diligence, because of intentionality, because of focus, and because of just an absolute necessity of keeping our people safe, which you’ve continually shown.

So we are thankful for you and thank you so much for having me here and for bringing us all together to talk about everything that’s happening here.

Madam County Executive, it’s great to be with you as always, and always good to be back in Wicomico County.

A few minutes ago, I had the pleasure of sitting with this group and received a briefing.

And this is what is now the most recent briefing on something that has been a years-long investigation.

The law enforcement from 13 different agencies dismantled a drug trafficking organization, one that was pushing narcotics across the Eastern Shore, Baltimore, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Delaware.

And it highlights why today’s not just an important and a good day for Wicomico County. 

And it’s not just an important and a good day for the state of Maryland.

What this team and what these individuals and everybody who’s worked on this case has accomplished – it’s a good day for the United States of America.

It resulted in arrests of violent criminals who, had they not been arrested, would have continued to terrorize our communities.

It resulted in the seizure of more than 42 kilograms of cocaine.

And as the sheriff mentioned, not just one of the largest cocaine seizures in the history of Wicomico, but one of the most important seizures that we’ve seen throughout the state of Maryland.

It resulted in the confiscation of more than $23,000. 

It resulted in a confiscation of 11 firearms.

That is 11 firearms that will now no longer be used in future crimes.

I want people to understand how we got here because this is what team effort looks like.

This happened because coordination was there and coordination was imperative.

It happened because the feds and the state and local and community partners chose to work together.

As the sheriff was mentioning, it took 80-plus search warrants, it took surveillance operations, undercover work, people putting their lives at risk, a sustained effort that lasted months.

It’s why our administration invested nearly $68,000 in the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network just in this investigation alone.

Because I think the people of the state know that I have no patience for violent offenders and people who for far too long have been doing harm to our communities.

I have no patience for people who will target our friends and family in the Eastern Shore, in Western Maryland, or anywhere in between and think they will somehow just get away with it. None.

Accountability is coming for everybody who can hear my voice.

And I’m grateful to be in a room full of people who don’t just feel the same way but because of the actions they do every single day are making sure that justice is done.

Because while I’m thankful for what today represents, what I’m really grateful for is the who.

And I want to thank our federal partners at the Drug Enforcement Agency, including Special Agent in Charge Christopher Goumenis.

I want to thank our outstanding troopers in the Maryland State Police, and thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Brown for your leadership that you continue to show.

I want to thank Sheriff Matt Crisafulli and the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office where, as Sheriff Lewis said, where the investigation began and has been an extraordinary partner all throughout.

I want to thank the Delaware State Police, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Baltimore County Police Department, the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office, the Salisbury City Police Department, the Ocean City Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, our judges, our members of GOCAP—thank you Marty, thank you Dorothy—all of our law enforcement, all of our prosecutors, every link in this chain.

The highest priority that I or any chief executive has is to make sure that your people are safe, full stop.

And our administration’s been clear from day one that we are not going to pick and choose favorites amongst jurisdictions or local, state, and federal levels; that our system works because everybody needs to be at the table.

We aren’t going to settle for the status quo and we are going to work in partnership with all of our law enforcement partners to improve communication and coordination.

And three years later, we’re thankful for the men and women who have done the work, who’ve gone out there and made our communities safer, who have shown that this does matter.

That three years later, we can provide record funding for the Maryland Criminal Intelligence Network.

Then we can make sure that Maryland is now one of the only states in the country that actually provides direct support for our U.S. Attorney’s Office where we help to support the U.S. Attorney because some of these crimes just need to go federal.

But what we’re most thankful for are for the men and women who every single day are willing to risk their lives and sacrifice on behalf of all of us and who have delivered record results.

Where last year we recorded 331 statewide homicides; that was roughly down 25 percent after a historic drop from the year before.

By the way, and the numbers have started—have decreased—this year, by the way, the numbers that we are seeing, Maryland has not seen since I was born.

In 2026, that trend is continuing and it didn’t happen by accident because the thing that we know is that it’s very easy to exploit a system that doesn’t work.

And you know who gets that better than anyone else? Criminals.

Because they will work every single angle to exploit a system that doesn’t work.

Criminal organizations, they count on gaps.

Criminal organizations, they count on lack of communication.

Criminal organizations, they count on folks not communicating.

But what you see in front of you today is what happens when there are no gaps.

What you see today is when coordinating systems have no daylight.

So you have my pledge: we are going to stay coordinated.

You have my pledge: our law enforcement officials will stay funded.

You have my pledge: our law enforcement agencies will stay supported.

You have our pledge that in Wicomico and in Maryland, we’re going to continue delivering results that the people deserve.

And we’re grateful for all the leadership that went in to make today happen.

And so with that, I’m going to turn it back over to our quarterback who’s done an outstanding job, Sheriff Lewis.

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