At a meeting of the Caucus of African American Leaders Tuesday, County Executive Steuart Pittman said he will begin looking at ways to reform the county Police Department in response to calls for changes in policing practices following the killing of George Floyd.
Pittman and Mayor Gavin Buckley were guests at Tuesday’s caucus meeting over video conference. The topic of the meeting was “How do we stop the killing of black people by law enforcement”?
Pittman said that while he is impressed with the current system of community relations councils in each police district, the Citizens Advisory Council and the Deadly Force Review Board, more can be done.
“We need to start over again and we need to take a look from the top to the bottom of our policing. And as a community, we need to look at what’s worked, what we’ve done well and where we failed,” Pittman told the Caucus Tuesday.
In the wake of Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, jurisdictions across the country have begun to examine the state of their police departments and how to ensure something similar doesn’t happen to them. Thousands have protested Floyd’s death across the country over the last two weeks, including several in Anne Arundel County.
Some have called for police departments to be defunded — that is, cutting police budgets and redirecting those funds to social service programs like housing and mental health services.
Among the aspects of policing he said he would look at, Pittman mentioned de-escalation, use of chokeholds, interventions by officers, use of force, warning before firing, screening recruits, hiring minorities and others. He cautioned that he wants as much community input as possible before announcing what specific changes will be made and what the process will look like.
“We don’t have a lot of opportunities to do this and this is the historical moment where we can make real change.”
Both leaders, who have participated in protests themselves in recent days, were asked by members of the caucus how they are specifically addressing racism and their opinions on a range of other subjects like use of chokeholds, economic opportunities for minority-owned businesses and county police officers who have been fired for racism or excessive use of force.
“A handful” of officers have been removed from the force for racist activities since he was elected two years ago, Pittman said. The social media of new recruits is screened and the department deploys an early warning system to flag officers who have had multiple complaints of excessive force.
One attendee asked whether they support chokeholds. They each said no. Pittman said chokeholds are not allowed in Anne Arundel County and when they are used, they are considered deadly force.
“If it isn’t illegal, it should be,” Buckley said. “I can’t imagine why it would be necessary.”
Buckley also read a resolution that the City Council unanimously passed Monday to memorialize Floyd and support peaceful protests in his honor.
“We watched people pour into the streets to demand change every night for the past two weeks we’ve seen demonstrations, protests and vigils where every day Americans demand that the next part of the American story looks drastically different,” Buckley said.
Last week, Buckley announced plans to create a civilian review board for the city’s police department. And Pittman added $4 million to next year’s budget for body-worn cameras for the Anne Arundel Police Department. The County Council considered that appropriation at Tuesday’s budget meeting. Annapolis police officers already wear body cameras.
“That little bit of a feeling that someone is watching and will be able to see what actually happens is a feeling of security,” Pittman said. He added that he is open to creating a civilian review board in the county.
Pittman also penned an open letter to the county police force Friday commending their work and promising to listen while encouraging them to listen as well.
“Being great officers, being a great department, and being a great government means that we want to be better. We serve the public and are funded by the public, so we turn to the public for direction,” he wrote. “Community engagement is the essence of modern policing, and the guiding principle of my administration. Some of that may feel uncomfortable, for me, for your Chief, and for you. But it will be worth it.”
Other guest speakers include Monica Lindsey, an activist and Anne Arundel County Public Schools educator, Claudia Barber, a former candidate for the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. Barber was the first black woman to appear on a general election ballot in 2018 for Circuit Court judge in the county.
Lindsey pushed Pittman to call racism a public health crisis rather than a public health “issue” as it was declared this week. Pittman said, “In my view, it’s a crisis, no question about it,” but deferred to the county Health Department on whether it would do the same.
Bishop Antonio Palmer, the pastor at Kingdom Celebration Center in Odenton and Mike Miller, a local businessman, also spoke. Miller advocated for reforming the officer’s bill of rights. Palmer asked how the county will support the black community economically.
Among the county’s efforts is a program to give out grants to small businesses for protective gear to partially reopen.
About a quarter of the grants have gone to minority-owned businesses so far, Pittman said.
