(a) Legislative findings.
(1) The United States Department of Justice advises that:
(A) strong relationships of mutual trust between police agencies and the communities they serve are critical to maintaining public safety and effective policing;
(B) police officials rely on the cooperation of community members to provide information about crime in their neighborhoods, and to work with the police to devise solutions to crime and disorder problems; and
(C) community members’ willingness to trust the police depends on whether they believe that police actions reflect community values and incorporate the principles of procedural justice and legitimacy.
(2) The Police Executive Research Forum hosted a national meeting of police and community leaders. The following key issues and recommendations were determined to be useful to help police departments and their communities to develop collaborative strategies for moving forward. Police departments should:
(A) acknowledge and discuss with communities the challenges local police departments face;
(B) be transparent and accountable;
(C) take steps to reduce bias and improve cultural competency;
(D) maintain focus on the importance of collaboration and be visible in the community; and
(E) promote internal diversity and ensure professional growth opportunities.
(b) Community policing guidelines. To further community policing objectives:
(1) officers must strive to regularly initiate and engage in positive nonenforcement activities with their communities;
(2) the Department must ensure cultural competency throughout the Department and increase officer knowledge of the County’s diverse population;
(3) the Department must emphasize the recruitment of candidates with ties to the County;
(4) the Department must increase community outreach initiatives and officers must attend community events on behalf of the Department;
(5) the Department must provide adequate training in de-escalation tactics;
(6) the Police Chief must designate a liaison to each population that is disproportionately impacted by inequities, as appropriate; and
(7) the Department must incorporate mental health and positive youth development initiatives in partnership with County departments, agencies, and community-based organizations.
(c) Reporting requirements.
(1) By February 1 each year, the Montgomery County Department of Police must report the following information to the Executive and Council for the prior calendar year:
(A) information about the demographic makeup of the Department, including:
(i) the total number of sworn police officers in the Department;
(ii) the total number of sworn racial minority police officers in the Department by race and ethnicity;
(iii) the total number of sworn female police officers in the Department;
(iv) the number of sworn police officers in the Department that reside in the County; and
(v) any other demographic information voluntarily provided by sworn police officers;
(B) the number of recruiting events the Department sponsored or participated in the County;
(C) the number of instances of use of force that resulted in an injury when the injury occurred as a direct result of an officer’s actions;
(D) the number of civilian complaints about the use of force by an officer;
(E) the number of civilian complaints regarding discrimination and harassment;
(F) the number of officers who were suspended with pay;
(G) the number of officers who were suspended without pay;
(H) the percentage of patrol officers who were assigned to neighborhood patrols;
(I) the number of youth under the age of 18 years referred to intervention programs by officers;
(J) data, in the manner prescribed by the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, regarding the number of calls for service involving substance abuse, the responses to those calls, and the outcomes of those calls;
(K) data, in the manner prescribed by the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, regarding the number of calls for service involving mental health issues, the responses to those calls, and the outcomes of those calls;
(L) demographic information regarding individuals stopped (including a stop and frisk that does not result in a citation or arrest), searched, cited, arrested, or the subject of a use of force incident by the Department, including:
(i) race;
(ii) ethnicity;
(iii) gender;
(iv) age; and
(v) any other demographic information voluntarily provided by the detainee;
(M) demographic information regarding individuals subject to a field interview, including:
(i) race;
(ii) ethnicity;
(iii) gender;
(iv) location;
(v) age; and
(vi) any other demographic information voluntarily provided by the detainee;
(N) a description of the Department’s training standards and practices, including training and practices related to de-escalation;
(O) a description of the Department’s community policing efforts, including community policing programs, participation in town hall meetings, and efforts to engage with schools, recreation centers, community centers, and senior centers;
(P) the number of officers subject to each type of officer discipline;
(Q) the number of violations of the use of force policy, and the number of officers found to have violated the use of force policy;
(R) the number of investigations conducted by the Internal Affairs Division of the Department;
(S) with respect to civilian complaints, the number of complaints per police district, the number of officers against whom the complaints were made, and the outcomes of the complaints;
(T) the number of overtime hours worked per police district; and
(U) data, in the manner prescribed by the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, regarding the number of service calls involving a homeless individual, the responses to those calls, and the outcomes of those calls.
(2) The Council annually must hold a public hearing regarding the report submitted under paragraph (1).
(3) Subject to state and federal law, the Department must maintain the following public datasets, to include race, gender, age, and ethnicity data, and data by police district, division, and bureau, on the web portal identified in Article XIV of Chapter 2:
(A) use of force incidents;
(B) field interview reports;
(C) juvenile citations;
(D) criminal citations, including trespassing citations;
(E) alcohol beverage violations;
(F) possession of marijuana violations less than 10 grams;
(G) smoking marijuana in public places;
(H) the pointing of a service weapon, taser, or pepper spray at an individual;
(I) the issuance of a stay-away order for trespass enforcement, and the location of property where the enforcement occurs;
(J) information identified under Section 5 of Chapter 59 of the 2021 Laws of Maryland regarding the activation, deployment, and results of the SWAT team;
(K) information identified under Section 1 of Chapter 62 of the 2021 Laws of Maryland regarding search warrants;
(L) arrests, including arrests on or immediately adjacent to school property;
(M) searches, including searches that result in arrest or the discovery of contraband;
(N) stops (including stop and frisks that does not result in citations or arrests);
(U) service calls related to mental health;
(V) service calls related to substance abuse issues;
(W) service calls related to homeless individuals; and
(X) service calls determined to be unfounded.
(4) If state or federal law prevents the Department from publishing a dataset under paragraph (3), the Department must, in its report under paragraph (1), identify the dataset and explain the reason that the dataset is confidential.
(5) For the datasets published under paragraph (3), the Department must provide an explanation of terms used in the data, such as the term other to identify race or ethnicity, and guidelines regarding how to navigate the data.
(6) The Department must also provide the information reported under paragraph (1) to the Advisory Commission on Policing established under Section 35-6.
(d) Annual survey.
(1) The Department annually must conduct an anonymous survey of residents and officers regarding police-community relations, including, at a minimum, the levels of trust communities have in the police.
(2) The survey must be administered to residents in multiple languages.
(3) The survey must contain demographic information, including racial, ethnic, age, gender, and geographic information, regarding respondents.
(4) The Department must post the survey results on the web portal identified in Article XIV of Chapter 2.
(e) The Department must designate an individual officer as the point of contact responsible for the data collection and transparency requirements under this Section.
(f) The Department must post online each written agreement it has entered into with a property owner regarding the enforcement of trespass laws. (2020 L.M.C., ch. 7, §1; 2021 L.M.C., ch. 26, § 1; 2021 L.M.C., ch. 31, § 1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1; 2023 L.M.C., ch. 32, § 1.)