Yesterday, under an extremely flawed, closed-door process, the County Council passed Expedited Bill 27-20, which creates an untenable and dangerous legal framework, making it extremely difficult to protect the health and safety of law enforcement, while also protecting the public.
Despite pledges by the the County Council to protect the collective bargaining rights of employees, to include the 1200 police officers of Lodge 35, all nine members of the County Council voted to errode those collective bargaining rights of police officers, approving Expedited Bill 27-20, over the repeated suggestions, collaborative recommendations, of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, which cautioned the Council of the harm that the bill would cause to both law enforcement and the public, if Expedited Bill 27-20 were to become law.
Despite several official letters to the County Council, the County Council ignored the due process rights of Montgomery County law enforcement, and standard “open government” transparency laws by refusing to make public any of the testimony of Lodge 35 and the other unions speaking in solidarity (IAFF Local 1664 and UFCW 1994 MCGEO), while at the same time, including testimony of the Democratic Party, and several advocacy groups with political ties to both County Council members and County Executive Elrich.
As passed, Expedited Bill 27-20 limits an officer’s ability to investigate crimes and creates policy standards for Montgomery County officers that differ from standards set by the Supreme Court under the U.S. Constitution.
Expedietd Bill 27-20 Prohibits the detaining of criminal suspects unless an officer is attempting to arrest a suspect with probable cause. The United States Supreme Court has observed the ability of police officers to detain suspects where there is reasonable articulable suspicion. This more stringent standard by the Montgomery County Council will cause a decrease in apprehensions of criminal suspects by police officers. As an example, if a robbery were to occur within Montgomery County, and a lookout was provided, an officer would be unable to detain a person matching that description because there is no probable cause for arrest. Investigative Detention of suspects is a daily occurrence in police work, and has led to the arrests of some of the most dangerous criminals in America.
Expedietd Bill 27-20 also creates two different standards when determining use of force. A court may only look at what the officer knew at the time force was used. The Council’s bill requires the totality of circumstances to be examined when determining a policy violation for an officer who uses force. If an officer must determine the totality of circumstances before using force, an officer may be delayed in making a split second decision, causing potential deadly consequences to both an officer and/or an innocent Montgomery County resident.
Under Expedited Bill 27-20 neck restraints are banned without consideration of a deadly attack on an officer whose only option is a violent physical struggle. Montgomery County officers, just like every citizen in the Country, have a right to defend themselves from serious bodily injury or death. Departmental policy must not infringe upon that right, even to align with public policies in the name of police reform.
As was previously stated, the voices of the 1200 members of Lodge 35 were muzzled by this unfair, and (at the very least) censored process. Lodge 35 provided three letters to Council opposing Expedited Bill 27-20 for various reasons, to include the reasons detailed above. Not one letter was attached to the council packet for review. Council also stated they had over four thousand emails, and discussed several email exchanges between them and the police department, and did not provide the information to the public. Expedited Bill 27-20 was pushed without any careful thought concerning the safety of the public and police officers. There were several moments in discussion when council members were noticeably confused on the policy they were voting on. Not one council member has experience or expertise in policing, but they passed legislation that will dramatically impact the life and death decisions police officers may be called on to make. The Council and the executive created committees to review policy and carefully consider the best practices in policing. Residents of Montgomery County and the public at large should be concerned the council would pass legislation that will precede the work of the committee that was commissioned.
This bill is simply a solution looking for a problem. Montgomery County currently has one of the most progressive and strongest use of force policies in the State of Maryland. Our policy has been vetted by law enforcement professionals both locally and nationally. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35 believes Expedited Bill 27-20 will cause confusion and impair the ability of our law enforcement officers to keep Montgomery County safe.
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35strongly advises the County Executive to veto Expedited Bill 27-20 for the safety of all Montgomery County Police Officers, Montgomery County residents, and Montgomery County business owners.