BALTIMORE, MD (April 12, 2005) – Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. and Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Kendl P. Philbrick will enlist future generations in their ongoing fight against environmental crimes when they visit with middle school students. Maryland’s top officials in law enforcement and the environment will be continuing their battle against environmental crime by teaching two classes of students about the importance of reporting environmental crimes, and they will do it from “the scene”.

On Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 9:00 a.m., both the Attorney General and Secretary Philbrick will be at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School in Baltimore County holding an outdoor class with science students from the school. At 1:00 p.m. both the Secretary and the Attorney General will hold a similar outdoor class in Montgomery County with students from St. Jane de Chantal School. The sixth and seventh graders have been preparing for this special class by studying and researching environmental issues.

At both locations there will be a mock environmental crimes scene staged by the Maryland Department of the Environment. Students will work in groups to “process the scene” and look for clues that help them try to “solve” the crime while learning how criminal investigators and emergency responders work together to fight environmental crimes. The “scene” will be designed to represent a typical hazardous waste dumping site that criminal investigators and emergency responders regularly handle. Secretary Philbrick and the Attorney General will lead the session and then speak with the children about types of environmental crimes and what damage they cause to communities and the environment.

This outreach continues the collaboration between the Maryland Attorney General’s Office and the Maryland Department of the Environment in the fight against environmental crime. These sessions are timed to bring attention to National Environmental Crimes Awareness Week, which this year is April 17-23. National Environmental Crimes Week is held each year to remind the public about the serious threat to our environment from environmental criminal activity; increase their awareness of the signs of environmental criminal activity and encourage the prompt reporting of environmental crimes to the proper authorities.

9:00 a.m. Sudbrook Magnet Middle School, 4300 Bedford Road, Baltimore County, 21208

1:00 p.m. St. Jane deChantal School, 9525 Old Georgetown Road, Montgomery County, 20817

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