Maryland Police Reform: More Than Prosecuting Freddie Gray's Killers

In the aftermath of the April protests, the Maryland General Assembly created the Public Safety and Policing Workgroup . The work group has been meeting since June, and the theme seems to be disconnect between government and people -- whether it's cops and citizens or delegates and constituents.

The MGA's take place in Annapolis, MD -- over 30 miles from Sandtown-Winchester. It's a 40 minute drive or 2-3 hours on the extremely limited public transit that connect the two regions. During the first meeting, I heard some lip service about having meetings in different regions of the state, but the published schedule has always shown the meetings will all be in Annapolis.

The General Assembly's reform group is composed entirely of lawmakers -- a decision that, in my opinion, severely limits their capability of understanding what's going on. Senator Catherine Pugh responded to criticism that the group is made up entirely of lawmakers by saying, "this is not a commission. This is legislators looking at potential legislation we can put in place." If a commission is what it takes for more citizen involvement, then maybe that's exactly what the group should have been.

During the course of the MGA's dog and pony show, I have attended town hall meetings in Baltimore -- for the death of Tyrone West, for the investigation the DOJ is conducting in the city. The faces I see at these meetings are not the same faces I see at the General Assembly. Where are these lawmakers who have been tasked with police reform? For reasons that cannot be explained, Delegate Jill Carter was left off the roster -- yet she is the most active on the topic of reform. Delegate Carter has spent weekends running meetings that introduce citizens to the DOJ members tasked with auditing Baltimore. She is respected and recognized among those that most need to get their stories heard...yet she was not offered a spot in the group. Without her presence, it is hard for me take the work group seriously.

Maryland is home to one of the most extreme Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights ; it has a lot of provisions that protect cops when perhaps they shouldn't be protected. For instance, the hearing board that determines if action should be taken against an officer is composed of fellow officers. One police representative informed us that police work is highly specialized and cops are highly trained. Because of this, the LEOBOR provision that police should be the ones to judge other police is acceptable. "Who should judge us? Plumbers? Electricians?" I guess his highly specialized training didn't cover what a jury is.

During another police Q&A session, police from all over the state explained their hiring practices and requirements. In all jurisdictions, using marijuana more than five times over the age of 21 permanently disqualifies someone for police service. One delegate asked a young representative from the Maryland State Police if this was practical; the police say they would prefer to have college graduates on the force, and marijuana has been decriminalized in Maryland. The officer replied that "these disqualifying factors are disqualifying factors for good reason...they need to understand their actions do have consequences." There you have it -- the mindset is so strong in the police force that the public electing to decriminalize an activity cannot make the cops change their minds.

I saw a lot of people express confusion about the protests that happened last week in front of the courthouse as we waited to see if Judge Williams would dismiss the charges against the officers who killed Freddie Gray. "Aren't they getting what they want?" people asked. Well, yes and no. We have a very long way to go before we're getting what we want -- this is bigger than one case. As we move toward Thursday, understand we are worried about more than a change of venue. We're worried about the system that has been put in place to "fix" the problems.

A version of the post originally appeared on Manda Writes Things .