Staffing shortages, school safety, and mounting pressures on law enforcement dominated a forum for Worcester County sheriff candidates, as incumbent Matt Crisafulli and challenger Jeff Buhrt framed competing approaches to leading the department.
Hosted by the South Point Association at the Ocean City Golf Club, the April 30 forum often unfolded in a conversational back-and-forth with the audience rather than a tightly moderated debate.
In fact, the candidates barely crossed paths: Buhrt addressed the audience before Crisafulli had even entered the building, while Crisafulli arrived late from another candidate event and took the microphone as Buhrt was headed out for his night shift.
With no Democrats having filed to run, the June 23 Republican primary will decide who gets to oversee a department of about 100 deputies and its proposed $22 million budget. Crisafulli is seeking a third term. He also faced Buhrt in the 2022 election.
Buhrt spent 27 years with the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office before retiring from that agency. He’s also served in both the Marine Corps and Army Reserve. Today, he’s still a cop, working overnights as a corporal with the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office.
When outlining his goals, Buhrt said he wants to bolster road patrols and launch a reserve unit of unarmed volunteers. He also criticized what he viewed as unnecessary spending, including sheriff’s SUVs that were briefly decorated with charitable-cause decals.
“I know it’s fun to get a lot of toys and spend money on fun things, but there’s stuff that can be cut out of the budget,” Buhrt said. “It sounds like small stuff, but all the patches, all the stickers, all the badges, all the nameplates, it costs taxpayer money.”
Crisafulli said that no tax dollars paid for the decals during his first term and they were purchased using charitable contributions.