DENTON, Md. — Flowers rest on a patrol car outside the Denton Police Department. A mourning bunting hangs outside the Caroline County Courthouse. Flags across the state fly at half-staff. In Denton, the tributes have been impossible to miss this week, as the community mourns the loss of longtime Police Chief George Bacorn.
Bacorn died Friday, at age 62, after a head-on car crash in Easton. Maryland State Police say a delivery truck driver crossed over the double yellow line and struck his vehicle. The crash remains under investigation, and MSP will present its findings to the Talbot County State's Attorney to determine whether any charges will be filed.
Bacorn spent 36 years serving the Denton community, rising through the ranks of the department after growing up in the county. He was about a year away from retirement, according to Acting Police Chief Jamie Secrist, who was hired by Bacorn.
"I mean, he pretty much was the department. It's a tremendous void without him here," Secrist said.
The two had known each other for years before Secrist ever put on a badge.
"Chief Bacorn has been a major driving force for this department,” Secrist said. “He's been here for 36 years. You know he hired me, I've known him since I was working in the McDonald's here in town. I went to school with his oldest son. So, you know, I've known him for a very long time.”
That history shaped their working relationship, Secrist said — one built on humor as much as respect.
"I pretty much teased him nonstop,” Secrist said. “And, you know, we had the kind of relationship that we were able to joke back and forth. But we were still able to get business done when we needed to get business done. It's going to be large shoes to fill.”
Denton Town Administrator Scott Getchell knew Bacorn since the two were in high school. He said the chief was known around town for more than just his badge.
"Well, he made friends wherever he was,” Getchell said. “And you knew he was in the room because he was very loud. And he didn't mean to be, but he was very loud, and everybody knows what I mean by that. He had a loud voice. He had a loud laugh. He was happy almost always. For someone in police work for that long, to be that happy all the time is pretty amazing. Says a lot.”
That disposition, Getchell said, was something the whole community leaned on.
"George is always happy,” Getchell said. “Always happy wherever you see him. He's laughing or he's talking to somebody, knows everybody, talking to somebody. So, his positive attitude is something that really gets a lot of people through hard events like that and hard times.”
A visitation and funeral service will be held Saturday, Oct. 3 in the auditorium at North Caroline High School in Ridgely. Visitation will go from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., followed by the service at 12:00 p.m.
