Meet Towson Precinct's New Captain

It's a bit of a homecoming for the new commander of the

Capt. Jonathan Trentzsch, a 28-year Baltimore County police veteran, took the helm at Precinct Six earlier this month from Maj. Al Jones, and assigned as the new commander for the Eastern Patrol Division.

Trentzsch, 49, grew up near Towson and graduated from He now lives in Carroll County with his wife and three daughters. Trentzch was promoted to captain almost six years ago and once ran the Parkville precinct.

Most recently, Trentzsch was a night duty commander, traveling throughout the county.

"As a night commander, I had the whole county, so it was nice to see how the whole county can operate. We are all one police department, but all the precincts really do operate in their own little way," he said.

Trentzsch had high praise for Towson's night crew.

"This midnight shift is one of the best ones in the county, so the Towson people are fortunate," he said. "These guys are very professional, very aggressive and they know the crime that's going on in the hot spots and they take care of it."

The Towson precinct has one of the in the county. Towson is like no other town in Baltimore County, Trentzsch said. And that makes his job exciting and challenging.

"We have a little bit of everything," he said. "We have the socioeconomic classes. You have the very wealthy people and you have the people not as fortunate. We have two colleges, three hospitals, you've got a mall, you've got the detention center. So as a commander, that's the learning curve for me."

Trentzsch spoke to Patch shortly after his appointment was announced. At the time there were more things in boxes than on his desk in his new office. Trentzsch said he was looking forward to meeting leaders in the Towson community and learning more about the neighborhoods.

"I like to lead by example. The (officers) will see me and hear me on the street," he said. "I expect the same thing of them, specifically supervisors, actually to be out and not sitting in the station all the time. And I don't think that's the case here. I think Al Jones had a real nice thing going on here, so it's just for me to continue with those things, but I'll obviously have my own touch on things because everyone's different."