Local Control of BPD
Last week, the Public Safety and Government Operations Committee, on which I sit, held a hearing about the status of local control.
During the 1860s, a group of racists controlled the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD) and conducted several horrible acts, which is why the state took it over.
Mayor Scott, when he became a Councilman, made this one of his most important initiatives. He and several others on the Council and in the city wanted to take back control of the Police Department because we are the only jurisdiction in Maryland without the legislative oversight of our own police force. So in 2021, the General Assembly passed legislation to start the local control process. This legislation SB786/HB1027 here created the Local Control Advisory Board (LCAB), repealed the applicable sections of Public Local Law 16.2 and 16.3 which governed the BPD, and says that a charter amendment has to be passed to have the BPD be a city agency, and not a state agency as it was then.
The Charter Amendment was overwhelmingly passed during the election on November 8, 2022. The Local Control Advisory Board had been meeting to discuss the various concerns about local control, and form.
However, the 2021 state law failed to remove a very small part of Article II section 27 of the Baltimore City Charter. This is the section of our Charter that only the General Assembly can change because it is the section where the General Assembly gives us our powers. This section explicitly states that no ordinance will interfere with the work of the BPD commissioner, which means the City Council cannot make laws or oversee the department just like any other department. Right now, there is no legislative oversight of the BPD.
Senator Carter and the Baltimore City House Delegation has introduced legislation to remove this clause and have it enacted by June of 2023. Here is the legislation SB758/HB853.
There is a competing bill that expands the role of the LCAB and the enactment date is for October of 2024, which is unacceptable.
The LCAB will make its formal recommendations on form and function of local control in April. Their “consensus” is to have the City Council have full legislative oversight just as we do for any agency of the City.
Please contact your delegate and senator, and also have your friends in other parts of the state contact their delegates and senators to pass SB758/HB853 - this is the local control bill we need.
3/20 Update: The competing bill was withdrawn. The Senate bill SB758 was amended to limit the power that the City Council has and clarify we need an additional charter amendment to outline the police department and the legislative powers of the City Council. This bill has not passed the Senate. The House Bill HB853 passed clean through the House of Delegates and is heading to the Senate. Please encourage your Senators to support this version!