Prince George’s County Executive Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said at a news conference Thursday that nobody in her administration was “happy” the county had spent about $26 million to fight and eventually settle a workplace discrimination suit brought by Black and Latino officers against the police department.

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       “Are we happy at having spent taxpayer dollars this way? Absolutely not,” Alsobrooks said. “But we were determined to do this right.”

       The settlement agreement, announced earlier this week by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, comes 2？ years after it was filed in federal court. The suit claimed the department and three of its White leaders had overseen a workplace environment that disproportionately harmed officers of color when it came to promotions and discipline.

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       “While there were things that we certainly disagreed on, to include some of the individual claims that were made, we agreed that overall our department needed meaningful and lasting change,” said Alsobrooks, who was days into her tenure as county executive when the suit was filed.

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       The county has already paid the private law firm Venable LLP at least $17.6 million to mount a defense in court. As part of the settlement, the county will also pay the plaintiffs’ $2.3 million in damages and their attorneys $5.8？million in fees and reimbursements.

       The county executive and her new police chief, Malik Aziz, broadly described the terms of the settlement — which include reforms to police department policies regarding Equal Employment Opportunity investigations, bias-free policing, and discrimination and retaliation.

       The changes also put into place accountability mechanisms for supervisors who don’t uphold the policies. The terms of the agreement will be monitored by the department’s new Office of Integrity and Compliance, which was formed as one of dozens of recommendations Alsobrooks accepted from a police reform work group she organized last year.

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       Aziz was hired this spring, nearly a year after former police chief and named defendant in the suit Hank Stawinski resigned amid the national racial justice reckoning and developments in the suit. Aziz has been tasked with implementing the reform work group’s suggestions and overhauling the culture of the department. He said the settlement is a signal that his officers can “start moving forward” and “start healing.” He added that the force is relieved the lawsuit is resolved.

       “That’s always a morale booster when you can put something behind you and look toward a new day,” Aziz said.

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       When pressed on the cost of the suit and whether the county should have settled sooner and spent the $26 million elsewhere, Alsobrooks said it was expensive for all parties but that her administration “did not want to be rushed” in the litigation.

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       “I was determined we were going to do this the right way,” she said, “and it meant that we needed to take the time that was necessary to do it properly.”

       Alsobrooks said the allegations in the suit were inspired by a culture in the department that had taken root over many years.

       “This should have been done decades ago, truthfully speaking. We should not have been here,” she said. “I don’t think anybody denies that.”

       But she said the department already looks different than it did when the suit was filed — which included the resignations or retirements of the three police leaders named in the suit and additional changes to policies and procedures from the reform work group.

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       The chief said the department is “headed in the right direction” to becoming a police force that is one residents have “demanded, one that you desire, and one that you deserve.”

       Rachel Chason contributed to this report.

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