Baltimore City’s road to local control of its police department has been long and winding, but it is one step closer now thanks to new legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly earlier this spring.
In order for the city to have full local control of the department, the Baltimore City council and mayor need to have authority over the police commissioner. And yet, language in the city’s charter exempted the police commissioner from that legislative oversight. That fix needed to be done by lawmakers in Annapolis.
SB 894/HB 948, which takes effect June 1, removes those restrictions.
“This bill repeals that exemption from the city charter, giving the council the power to implement much needed reforms within the BPD,” wrote Senator Jill Carter, a Democrat from Baltimore City, at the bill’s introduction. Carter also sponsored the bill.
Baltimore City has not had full control over its police since before the Civil War. The city is the only municipality in Maryland that does not have full oversight of its law enforcement.
In 2021, the General Assembly passed legislation that would establish the Baltimore Police Department as a city agency provided that Baltimoreans voted in favor of the ballot measure– 82% of city voters overwhelmingly chose to do so in 2022. But thorny issues with language in the charter have slowed down the process.
The legislation passed in Annapolis is contingent once again on Baltimore voters: it will only go into effect if city residents vote in favor of another measure on the ballot this November. That measure solidifies the police commissioner’s powers along with the department’s structure.
“This is a big moment for Baltimore,” said Councilman Mark Conway, who oversees the council’s Public Safety and Government Operations Committee. “This bill is the result of collaboration by city officials, state legislators, advocates, and every Baltimorean who voted to approve the charter amendment to transfer BPD back to city hands in 2022... It's a big deal.”
Senator Cory McCray expressed cautious optimism, urging the city to create strong accountability measures once it regains control of the department.
“They cannot take their foot off the gas with the intentionality that took place with that police department,” said McCray. Under the state’s control, for instance, the department can be audited by the state Office of Legislative Audits, mentioned McCray. Earlier this year, an OLA report found that a lack of supervisor oversight cost the department around $66 M.
“Nearly all major cities in the country have local control of their police departments and can still exert proper accountability over spending and behavior,” said Conway in an email to WYPR. “In Baltimore, we have a robust Department of Audits in the comptroller’s office and established the city Police Accountability Board to bolster civilian oversight of the police department.”
Conway also noted that the council holds regular hearings with the department.
“Clearly, you couldn't entrust that kind of power and autonomy to the General Assembly, because technically they had the legislative oversight of the agency and during that time we ended up in the consent decree,” said Scott, noting the federal consent decree between the city and the federal justice department.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said the city can take accountability over the department by enshrining some of the consent decree reforms into city law– something he says wouldn’t be possible with the police operating under state control.
For Scott, this final push from Annapolis is a relief. He’s been working on local control efforts since he was first elected to city government in 2011.
“This fight for local control is a personal baby of mine. It’s like watching my child graduate high school.”