The secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services appointed three interim leaders to head the agency’s probation and parole division after the on-duty killing of an agent, reports the Baltimore Sun. The employees' union called for Gov. Wes Moore to fire the agency's head, Carolyn Scruggs, as as well as Parole and Probation Director Martha Danner and Deputy Executive Director Walter Nolley. Instead, Scruggs announced an interim director and two interim deputies. The changes came after the homicide a week ago of parole and probation agent Davis Martinez, 33. His body was found May 31 at the home of Emanuel Sewell, a registered sex offender, in Chevy Chase, Md., near Washington, D.C.
Sewell is charged with second-degree murder. Martinez is the first state parole and probation agent alleged to have been killed by a client while on duty. Bobbie Jo Fockler will serve as interim director of the Division of Parole and Probation. Patrick Moran, president of the Maryland chapter of AFSCME, said the changes were “a positive step in the right direction” but "I don’t think it resolves the cultural problems we have in the department and the overall direction of the department." “[Sewell] was known to be a problem,” Moran said. “He was known to be a problem with other agents.” Moran said his members had been pressing for improved safety procedures for years, reports the Washington Post. Rayneika Robinson, president of the Parole and Probation employees’ local of AFSCME Maryland, said agents like Martinez do not carry firearms and they visit clients alone. “It’s actually our reality,” Robinson said. “We have a bulletproof vest and OC pepper spray and go out by ourselves … Unfortunately, that’s our reality."