An audit released Wednesday recommended a host of changes for policing in Maryland’s most populous jurisdiction, including enhanced crisis-intervention training, revised use-of-force and internal affairs policies, and an overhauled training curriculum.
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Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) initiated the external audit in July, after the wealthy, left-leaning suburb erupted in protests against police violence following the killing of George Floyd last year in Minneapolis.
“The findings indicate the need for greater accountability in our processes and procedures, as well as in training,” Elrich said at a news conference in Gaithersburg on Wednesday. “The problems examined in this report aren’t really new, and so it’s so important that we have this report now.”
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Elrich will discuss the initial findings and recommendations from the 75-page report at a virtual community meeting on Wednesday, July 7. The report comes half a year after Kwamena Ocran, a 24-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by plainclothes Gaithersburg police officers who were pursuing him because they believed he had a gun.
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In October 2020, prosecutors did not charge a White county police sergeant who had shot and killed Finan Berhe, a 30-year-old Black man, six months earlier. Berhe had run toward the sergeant while holding a large kitchen knife in a townhouse parking lot.
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Last year, Montgomery’s all-Democratic County Council initiated a flurry of legislation relating to police accountability, including additional funding for mental health services and passing a “use-of-force” law that requires officers to act when they see colleagues using what appears to be excessive force.
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At the state level, Maryland lawmakers in the General Assembly approved a package of police accountability bills in April. They include a statewide use-of-force standard that experts described as one of the strictest in the country, removal of some legal protections for officers and revisions to the officer disciplinary process that gives civilians a role.
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Among the dozens of recommendations in the audit report, strengthening the department’s response to mental health crises was strongly emphasized. Specifically, the audit called for better crisis intervention training, which it described as “outdated and insufficient.”
The audit, which is being conducted by a nonprofit organization called Effective Law Enforcement for All, also called for revising internal investigations policies and creating an internal investigative review panel for serious uses of force. David Douglass, the chief executive of the nonprofit, noted that Montgomery’s police department reviews, but does not necessarily investigate, every use-of-force complaint.
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Other recommendations called for creation of an early-warning system, with periodic reviews of officer performance, and expanding the training curriculum to include lessons on de-escalation, procedural justice and bias-free policing.
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Lee Holland, vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, said shifting police philosophy so that officers are considered as “guardians” would be difficult for some longtime veterans. But he said the labor union agreed with the audit’s recommendation to increase the department’s starting salary, which is intended to make the county more competitive in recruiting officers.
Of the recommendations, Douglass said mental health resources and use-of-force policies should be the county’s top priorities. Douglass highlighted the ways in which the two issues are related, noting that people facing mental health issues are involved in a fourth of use-of-force incidents. Use-of-force against people of color, in particular, often involve a mental health aspect, he added.
“If you make changes in those areas you will dramatically improve your mental health response and reduce your use-of-force,” Douglass said.
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The County Council has already begun addressing some of these issues raised in the audit through pending legislation, which received mixed feedback from local activists and community members at a public hearing in early June.
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Two of the bills involve mandating a 30-hour training on racial equity before police recruits enter the police academy; and increasing oversight of and access to footage from officers’ body cameras.
Some activists expressed concerns with adding requirements for recruits as it may disadvantage those without the time or funding to attend the required training. Several residents expressed support for increasing the use of body cameras but called for more civilian access to footage and specifications on how the footage would be reviewed by the department.
Heidi Rhodes of Jews United for Justice asked that the council require body cameras for plainclothes officers as well.
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A parallel report in February recommended changes to the police department in neighboring Prince George’s County, where Black and Latino officers have filed a federal lawsuit alleging systemic discrimination within the department. Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said she would implement 46 of the 50 recommendations.
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The Montgomery audit is still underway. The final report, which will be released in the fall, will delve more into internal affairs and use-of-force, community and bias-free policing, police operations, and management and technology.
“It’s not going to be easy, but we have to tell the truth and make dramatic changes,” said council member Will Jawando (D-At Large). “Because the system we have is producing unequal justice .？.？. we have a responsibility to do better.”
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