In an exclusive interview, WTOP anchor Nick Iannelli hears from Will Milam about why he’s challenging Sheriff Maxwell Uy for his position as head of the sheriff’s department in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Exclusive: WTOP anchor Nick Iannelli hears from Will Milam about his bid in the primary for Montgomery County sheriff
A political battle for sheriff in Montgomery County, Maryland, is taking shape.
Before that, Milam worked with the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office.
In an exclusive interview with WTOP Thursday, Milam announced his campaign publicly for the first time, saying the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is “currently broken.”
“The agency is in the midst of a major staffing crisis, morale among the workforce is at an all-time low and there’s no vision for the future of the department,” Milam said. “People don’t leave jobs, they leave bad managers, and I want to bring a new leadership style that’s sort of aimed at valuing our employees so that they stay.”
Uy has faced criticism from the union that represents employees at the sheriff’s office, in part because more than two dozen deputies have left the department during his leadership.
“I think you if you drill down on those departures, you would find that many of them have left due to early retirements,” Milam said. “They’re leaving and electing to leave money on the table to get out of the department, and others have left to go to other law enforcement agencies where they feel more valued.”
In a statement to WTOP, Uy said the situation was more complicated than that.
“Recent collective bargaining agreements have reduced the actual number of years needed to qualify for retirement by crediting qualified military veterans for up to two years of service, with an option to purchase additional years for retirement credit,” Uy said. “As a military veteran, I commend the efforts to credit veterans for their service, however, in a workforce of only 155 deputies, the loss of one-sixth of the workforce puts real strain and stress on our operations.”
Uy added that it has become harder to recruit deputies, especially when other law enforcement agencies are able to offer significant hiring bonuses.
He said that the sheriff’s office has recently stepped up its community engagement and recruiting efforts.
“As the current, elected sheriff with more than 31 years of service with the MCSO, I consider myself uniquely qualified to handle these challenges,” Uy said.
Uy was first elected to the role of sheriff in 2022.
Both Uy and Milam are now listed as Democratic candidates for sheriff in next year’s election, which means they are set to face each other in a primary in June of 2026.
When asked if his campaign was the result of someone in the department or the union encouraging him to run, Milam said it was not.
“Law enforcement circles are small, and so it’s not uncommon for you to hear things about other departments,” Milam said. “The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was a department that I had heard wasn’t going the best, and so as a Montgomery County resident and someone who has made this their life work, I started paying attention.”
Milam said, if elected, one of his top priorities would be to focus on domestic violence.
“It’s a crisis that’s hiding in plain sight,” Milam said. “I want our agency to be proactive in intervening family and domestic violence within the community, partnering with community stakeholders to raise greater awareness and focus on holding abusers accountable.”
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