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Advocates and lawmakers expressed disappointment over a newly-introduced police accountability measure in the Montgomery County Council Tuesday, saying there was no opportunity for community buy-in.
鈥淏ecause there was no community input, the bill perpetuates law enforcement鈥檚 control of police discipline, excluding the communities most impacted by policing,鈥� Joanna Silver, policy committee co-chair for the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, said in a statement Monday. 鈥淭he community needs more than a few minutes at a Council hearing to fix this fatally flawed bill.鈥�
Proposed by Montgomery County Executive Marc B. Elrich (D), the legislation in dispute seeks to cap the number of people who serve on the county鈥檚 police accountability board, which was established under reform legislation passed by the General Assembly earlier this year.
The summary of聽聽introduced Tuesday states that state legislation 鈥渋s silent as to the number of members of the [Police Accountability Board].鈥�
As such, the county executive has proposed the board be capped at five members 鈥� all appointed by him and approved by the county council. Each appointee would serve three-year terms, with a two-term limit.
According to the bill鈥檚 language, each member must have experience with:
- The management of a law enforcement agency;
- The evaluation of citizen complaints against police officers; and
- Personnel disciplinary proceedings.
Active-duty police officers are not permitted to serve on the board.
In a聽聽signed by 19 community organizations and sent to Elrich Sunday evening, advocates requested that he withdraw the legislation, noting that, under state statute, members of the county鈥檚 police accountability board appoint other integral players in the investigatory and disciplinary process for law enforcement.
In a news release, the ACLU of Maryland and the Silver Spring Justice Coalition said their request was ignored.
Elrich had the bill introduced before the committee Tuesday, giving several county council members heartburn.
鈥淚t is a disappointing start to bringing the community more into the process for accountability,鈥� Councilmember Hans Riemer (D) said in a text exchange during the meeting. Riemer is one of three candidates challenging Elrich in the 2022 Democratic primary for county executive.
Councilmember William Jawando (D) told his fellow legislators that he was also disappointed in the lack of community engagement during the bill鈥檚 drafting process, saying the legislation 鈥渇alls short as introduced and the kind of public buy-in that鈥檚 needed.鈥�
鈥淭he good news is, thanks to our county charter and the way legislation moves, we鈥檙e going to be able to use this bill or crumple it up or create a new one or make changes to it, update it, and we鈥檒l have a thorough robust community engagement process,鈥� Jawando said Tuesday afternoon.
鲍苍诲别谤听, which passed through the General Assembly this year, the governing bodies of each jurisdiction are mandated to create police accountability boards and administrative charging committees to investigate and determine the outcomes of police misconduct complaints levied by members of the public.
Complaints may be filed directly through the policing agency or with the county鈥檚 police accountability board, which would have three days to forward the complaint to the police department for investigation.
The appropriate agency would then send their findings to the 鈥嬧�媍ounty鈥檚 administrative charging committee. This committee, made up of a designee from the police accountability board, two civilians the board appoints and two civilians appointed by the county executive, would determine if disciplinary charges should be filed against the officer subject to the misconduct complaint.
If the committee determines that disciplinary charges are appropriate, it must recommend a disciplinary action within the scope of the matrix provided by the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission. The chief or sheriff would impose that disciplinary action or a more stringent one than was proposed by the board.
If the officer challenges the findings, they have the ability to appear before a three-person trial board comprised of an active or retired administrative law judge or a retired district court or circuit court judge, a civilian chosen by the police accountability board, and a police officer of the same rank of the officer facing the charges.
House Bill 670 takes effect on July 1, 2022, but agencies with collective bargaining contracts that go past that date may maintain their policies until those contracts run out.
The new disciplinary process provided under House Bill 670 will apply to the Montgomery County police and sheriff鈥檚 departments on July 1, 2023.
According to the聽, 13 people have died while in the custody of the Montgomery County Police Department and one person died in the custody of the Montgomery County Sheriff鈥檚 Department between 2013 and 2021.
鈥淏ecause the bill is expedited, it may not receive the necessary racial equity and social justice impact assessment, and that is unacceptable,鈥� Yanet Amanuel, the interim public policy director for the ACLU of Maryland, said in a statement.
鈥淭his is an introduction,鈥� Montgomery County Council President Gabe Albornoz (D) said Tuesday. 鈥淎nd as has always been the case, we will have a series of work sessions in committee and deliberate and discuss this particular issue.鈥�
Rather than holding it during the day, Albornoz said that the council would schedule a public hearing on the night of Jan. 11, 2022 for Elrich鈥檚 bill to allow more community members to testify.
Maryland Matters聽reached out to Elrich鈥檚 office for comment Tuesday, but a response was not immediately available.
