By Kyle Frazier and Carlee Lammers
Round Table editors-in-chief

With today’s changing world and changing influences all around, stricter measures of security must be called for. Many parents find themselves asking this year, “Is the Great Frederick Fair safe for my family?”

President of All-County Security and Investigation Agency Charles M. Ellenberger hopes to provide a safe place for all who attend The Great Frederick Fair this year. Ellenberger retired from the Howard County Police Department in 1989, and then formed All-County Security. Our job is to “maintain security of the patrons and staff of the fair. We ensure personal protection of property,” said Ellenberger.

All-County Security has been working The Great Frederick Fair for six years. They also work several other local events such as Frederick Keys baseball games, races and other events held at the fairgrounds and events at the Hagerstown speedway. The agency is licensed in both Virginia and Maryland and they serve from as far as Springfield, VA to Northeast MD – almost Delaware. All-County has approximately 75 part-time and full-time security officers at the fair this year. “Everyone working for us is mostly retired police from Howard County and Baltimore County,” said Ellenberger.

All-County works hand-in-hand with the police departments here at the fair to ensure safety for all who attend. “We handle minor cases from animal bites, theft, and lost children,” said Ellenberger. All-County also provides medical assistance for those who are injured on a ride or who receive animal bites. They also help cover security for the performers at the Grandstand each night.

“We are basically public relations providing wheelchairs and other services,” said Ellenberger. Frederick Police Department Sgt. Wayne Trapp feels that the fair is a safe place for families to attend, after serving the department for 18 years.

The job of the police is to direct traffic and to patrol the fair, assisting All-County in security efforts. However, “the security company cannot handle anything of criminal nature. Security serves as our eyes and ears,” said Sgt. Trapp.

Both the police department and All-County Security said that rowdy teenagers fighting in the midway was one of the biggest security issues at the fair.

Maintaining safety for all at the fair is just all in a day’s work for officers at The Great Frederick Fair.