SNOW HILL – County officials this week opted to delay approval of a police accountability resolution.
The Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday voted 6-1 to delay consideration of a resolution to comply with Maryland’s Police Accountability Act until next month. They noted the act, which replaces the Law Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights as the system for police discipline, doesn’t go into effect until July.
“I’d like to know what this actually means before I sign off on it,” Commissioner Chip Bertino said.
Roscoe Leslie, the county’s attorney, presented the commissioners Tuesday with a resolution to comply with the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021. He said the resolution needed to be approved and the commissioners needed to identify individuals to appoint to a police accountability board, a charging committee and a trial board. The act becomes effective July 1 of this year.
“This is mandated from the state, we’re just implementing it at the local level,” Leslie said.
Commissioner Jim Bunting asked how the county was going to find retired or administrative law judges willing to serve on trial boards. Leslie said the county was still trying to identify judges who’d be willing to be involved. The county is also waiting for details on the training that will be required of board and committee members. The seven-member police accountability board will serve as the overall governing body of the system while the five-member charging committee will review complains and investigations of police misconduct. A trial board will be convened if the police officer doesn’t accept the discipline recommended by the charging committee.
“Even if the commissioners had all their appointments made, all these people have to go through training that probably hasn’t been finalized yet,” Leslie said. “We’re all just trying to do the best we can to get it implemented.”
Commissioner Josh Nordstrom expressed frustration at what he called another unfunded mandate from the state. Bertino said he had a lot of questions about the resolution as proposed. He said it seemed like the resolution had to be passed before officials could understand what was in it.
“Well I’d like to understand what’s in it now,” he said. “I’d like to better understand from the point of view of law enforcement exactly what this means to them and their officers in the real life world.”
He said there could potentially be a lot of people worried about perceived recklessness among officers.
“I want to make it clear that if we have law enforcement that aren’t doing their job professionally or within the law they should definitely be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. “But my concern with this—I’ve seen this go through the state legislature. This isn’t what this is about. This is about putting the preponderance of guilt on law enforcement for them just doing their jobs.”
Bertino said he wanted to speak with the county’s sheriff, state’s attorney and other law enforcement before voting on the accountability resolution.
Commissioner Ted Elder questioned the costs associated with the program. He pointed out that in addition to training costs there would likely be compensation provided to those serving on the boards and committees.
“I’m just saying there’s a lot of hidden costs in here on top of all the other issues with it Commissioner Bertino’s listed,” Elder said. “I’m very concerned at this time.”
Commissioner Diana Purnell asked how the resolution had been developed. Leslie explained he’d reviewed other resolutions and worked with Wicomico officials as they drafted their resolution.
“We did a lot more work than a lot of other counties to make this more agreeable from all parties’ perspectives,” he said.
When asked when a trial board would convene, Leslie said the new discipline system would be used when a complaint from a citizen was received. He said the charging committee would decide whether to move forward with discipline.
He confirmed that the new system would go into effect in July whether the commissioners voted on it or not.
“We’re just dressing it up for local implementation, giving it our spin,” Leslie said.
Bertino pointed out there were still two commissioner meetings before July.
“We ‘re not required to pass it today,” he said.
Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said that the commissioners probably didn’t need to vote on it at all. He indicated the county would be left with the state’s language however if it didn’t adopt its own resolution.
“I don’t think any of us are really thrilled about this,” he said.
Mitrecic added that if the commissioners did delay adoption of the resolution, they should at least begin identifying constituents who might be willing to serve on the boards and committees.
“So that when we do put this in effect in July we’re not scrambling to find people at that point,” he said.
Mitrecic voted against Bertino’s motion to delay.
“It is what it is and we have to do what we have to do…,” he said. “We could in fact lose a lot more funding from the state going forward than we’re going to spend on this board.”
