top of page

Action: Read the letter sent to Governor Hogan on June 16, 2020

Understand what's happening now, in Maryland.


STEP 1: Read the Letter

Governor Hogan Policing Letter
.pdf
Download PDF • 775KB

"June 16, 2020

The past three weeks have exposed what some of us have known for years: that enforcement of our laws has not yielded equal justice for all Marylanders. Policing in our country is broken. While we have taken some important steps together with you – most notably passage of the Justice Reinvestment Act – we have not done enough to fix policing in Maryland.

As a result of House Bill 954 of 2015 and House Bill 1016 of 2016, the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission issued best practices, protocols, standards and data collection requirements to all law enforcement agencies in the State of Maryland to follow for use of force. But we need to do more.

We ask that you immediately sign an Executive Order for all State-controlled law enforcement agencies to require some of these best practices recommended by your Police Training and Standards Commission. You have under your immediate jurisdiction more than 18 law enforcement agencies (including higher education policing agencies) that can start saving lives right now. Specifically, we ask that you:

  • Require that deadly force is only used to “stop an imminent threat of death or seriously bodily injury to the officer” or a citizen; (1)

  • Require a duty to intervene for those police officers who see another officer “using force beyond what is objectively reasonable under the circumstances;”

  • Implement an early warning system to identify excessive incidents involving use of force and immediately re-train that officer; https://mdle.net/pdf/UOF_Best_Practices.pdf

  • Ban shooting at vehicles, unless the vehicle is clearly being used for deadly force against an officer or another person; and

  • Require that every officer within a State law enforcement agency sign an affirmative written sanctity of life pledge to “respect every human life” and “act with compassion toward others,” as recommended by MPTSC.

In addition, we ask that you immediately ban the use of chokeholds for any State law enforcement officer.

Finally, we ask that MPTSC report to the Maryland General Assembly by July 10, 2020 which police departments in the State:

  • are not reporting use of force data;

  • have implemented a use of force policy;

  • are requiring de-escalation, use of less lethal force and implicit bias training.

As you know, the House has convened a legislative workgroup with the full intent of mandating these things in the 2021 legislative session, in addition to other legal requirements to begin to undo the systemic inequality that our justice system continues to hand out every day. However, you have the power with the stroke of your pen to begin this process today.

We look forward to hearing from you.


Sincerely, Speaker Adrienne A. Jones Vice Chairman Vanessa Atterbeary

Caucus Chair Jazz Lewis Chairman Luke Clippinger Majority Leader Eric Luedtke Speaker Pro Tem Sheree Sample-Hughes

Majority Whip Talmadge Branch

Chairman Maggie McIntosh

Chairman Dereck E. Davis

Chairman Kumar Barve

Chairman Shane Pendergrass

Chairman Anne Healey

Chairman Anne Kaiser

Chairman Kathleen Dumais Vice Chairman Michael Jackson Vice Chairman Dana Stein Vice Chairman Joseline Peña-Melnyk Vice

Chairman Marvin Holmes, Jr. Vice

Chairman Alonzo Washington

Caucus Vice Chair Courtney Watson

Delegate Brook Lierman Delegate Julian Ivey Delegate Lorig Charkoudian

Delegate Samuel Rosenberg Delegate Vaughn Stewart Delegate Erek Barron Delegate Lesley Lopez Delegate Lily Qi Delegate Carol Krimm

Delegate Diana Fennell

Delegate Kirill Reznik

Delegate Emily Shetty

Delegate Andrea Harrison

Delegate Al Carr Delegate Kris Valderrama

Delegate Ariana Kelly

Delegate Karen Lewis Young

Delegate David Moon

Delegate Jared Solomon

Delegate Debra Davis

Delegate Carl Jackson

Delegate Veronica Turner

Delegate Lisa Belcastro

Delegate Sheila Ruth

Delegate Sara Love Delegate Bonnie Cullison

Delegate Marc Korman

Delegate Jared Solomon

Delegate Charlotte Crutchfield

Delegate Eric Ebersole

Delegate Edith Patterson Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr

Delegate Ron Watson Delegate Mark Chang Delegate Mary Lehman Delegate Tony Bridges Delegate Geraldine Valentino-Smith

Delegate Pam Queen Delegate Jon Cardin Delegate Darryl Barnes Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins

Delegate Sandy Bartlett Delegate Nick Mosby Delegate Jim Gilchrist Delegate Wanika Fisher Delegate Ken Kerr Delegate Nicole Williams Delegate Heather Bagnall Delegate Dalya Attar Delegate Michele Guyton Delegate Steve Johnson Delegate Benjamin Brooks Delegate Ned Carey Jessica Feldmark Delegate Terri Hill Delegate Ben Barnes Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo

Delegate Jen Terrasa Delegate C.T. Wilson

Delegate Melissa Wells

Delegate Robbyn Lewis

Delegate Mike Rogers

Delegate Curt Anderson

Delegate Harry Bhandari

Delegate Nick Charles

Delegate Dana Jones

Delegate Pat Young

Delegate Cathi Forbes

Delegate Keith Haynes

Delegate Frank Conaway

Delegate Chanel Branch

Delegate Brian Crosby

Delegate Jay Walker

Delegate Regina Boyce

Delegate Stephanie Smith

Delegate Shaneka Henson

Delegate Gabriel Acevero Delegate Susie Proctor

Delegate Mary Ann Lisant

Delegate Jay Jalisi


(1) Quotes are directly from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission Protocols and Standards for Use of Force and Use of Force Training Concepts and Best Practices."


STEP 2: If your representative's name is not on the letter, ask them why?

Maryland General Assembly: http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Members/District

118 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page