The Maryland General Assembly will consider moving ahead on some police reform items Wednesday after the Workgroup on Public Safety and Policing issued over 20 recommendations Monday. In the wake of mass protests and unrest after Freddie Gray’s death and during the trials of the officers charged with killing him, Maryland’s incredibly lax Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBR), which allows officers—among other things—ten full days to avoid speaking to investigators after an incident, has come under fire. Three of the recommendations directly challenge items in the LEOBR. According to the Baltimore Sun:
The group suggested cutting in half the time officers can wait before speaking to investigators, from 10 days to five. Under the task force's proposal, victims of police brutality would have a year to file a complaint — four times longer than under current law — and be guaranteed an investigation. And in addition to opening all police trial boards to public scrutiny, the group proposed striking down a state law that prevents citizens from serving on those boards.
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Many of the recommendations concern a training commission that lawmakers want to become an independent agency with wide-ranging authority. The Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission would take on the role of creating uniform standards for hiring, training, punishing and helping officers.
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The task force also said the state should set aside cash to encourage officers to live in the communities they police, and to establish programs that pair cops and kids in athletic leagues or other community organizations.
All in all, this is a very mild set of reforms that falls well short of what most activists want (see full list of recommendations below the fold). Officers still have five days before being required to speak to prosecutors. Maryland’s time to file a complaint is currently short compared to several other states like California, which offers six months time. The current trial board system allows police to stack the deck in favor of their own. These are obvious problems that have been abused in the past.
However, of course, the police unions disagree. The Baltimore Sun reports that the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police "remain[s] opposed to any and all changes," according to a statement from Frank Boston III, a lobbyist for the group. Oh boy.