By Jordan Kendall
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee will hold a series of virtual public hearings this week on 15 bills designed to reform policing in the state and reduce racial discrimination in law enforcement.
The hearings are scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
They will cover police reform bills that would clarify when officers can use deadly force, eliminate no-knock warrants, require officers to intervene to stop fellow officers who may be using force unnecessarily, and require law enforcement officials to report misconduct within their departments.
The bills would also prohibit law enforcement agencies from receiving certain equipment from the federal military surplus program, institute added protections for whistleblowers, and give the public access to body camera footage.
The bills were written by state senators William C. Smith, D-Montgomery County and chairman of the committee, Jill P. Carter, D-Baltimore, and Charles E. Sydnor, D-Baltimore County.
Smith wrote a letter in June to legislators and constituents calling for police reform. A few requests Smith had were to make it easier for the public to access records relating to complaints and investigations against police officers.
Smith also requested a ban on chokeholds, training to reduce implicit bias in policing, and to hire an official in the Attorney General’s office to specifically prosecute police who kill or seriously injure a civilian.
“Our system is broken and we cannot continue to do what we’ve been doing.,” Smith said in the letter. “Although we have made progress in recent years, it is far past time for us to reflect upon why it has taken the murder of yet another precious black soul in 2020 to muster the political will to push for meaningful reform. As an elected official I certainly share in that responsibility.”
The letter came after protests around the country demanded police reform and accountability following the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody in May.
The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement today criticizing Smith’s proposals. They said the Democrat was not being collaborative, and the reforms do not go far enough to protect Black lives in Maryland.
“Some bills are fine, some are meaningless, and others are just bad,” Yanet Amanuel, ACLU of Maryland public policy advocate said in a statement. “But in their entirety, they miss the point: Power over law enforcement must shift into the hands of the community. We must end the practice of police policing themselves. Anything that doesn’t achieve that is insufficient.”
The ACLU proposed five police reforms that included repealing the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights, reforming the public information act to allow disclosure of all complaints of police misconduct, establishing a statewide use of force policy preventing officers from using force unless necessary, removing school resource officers from schools, and returning control of the Baltimore City Police Department to the Baltimore City residents.
Over 75 organizations across Maryland support the ACLU proposals and helped the ACLU to write them.
Nancy Oreng of the League of Women Voters in Maryland said her organization supports the ACLU reforms but have not had enough time to analyze Smith’s proposals to determine if they also support them.
“These reforms were drafted by individuals who have had a long engagement with this issue as advocates and Marylanders who have been directly impacted by severe problems with our law enforcement system,” Oreng said in an email. “The League of Women Voters is one of the organizations who supports these reforms.”