The current roster has 16 authorized officers and there are 7 officers on staff, according to OPA. Before Tarr quit it would have been 16 and 8, I assume.

That said, the ability to maintain a full complement of officers has been a problem for some time, even prior to Ehrisman becoming chief. I can recall board debates from decades ago about police staffing. There have been a number of unstaffed positions for years, as far as I know, and well prior to this latest shed/gun issue.

To blame staffing shortages on this recent issue does not seem appropriate. These officer shortages have been noted in GM reports for a long time.

Let's look at another item.

Tarr said the following:

"I ended up just signing the insurance paperwork on the hood of my truck in front of everybody around lunchtime when everybody was coming out of the building and I went on my merry way so that just at that point I was like I need to get out of Ocean Pines I’m obviously not thought of very highly. It doesn’t matter how many years I put into this place so that was that was definitely a huge sign for me."

A reliable source tells me Tarr was invited to go into the Admin building to sign the insurance documents but said he would sign the document on his vehicle hood - after he apparently started to go into the police area.