As local governments across the country address concerns about police brutality and the death of George Floyd, the Montgomery County Council will take up police reform legislation on Tuesday.
The council will consider a bill to set a policy for the use of force by police. A separate bill would create a civilian assistant chief of police position. Both will be introduced at the council’s meeting on Tuesday.
In the first bill, the police chief would have to adopt a use-of-force policy.
There would be minimum standards for “the use of deadly force, the use of carotid and neck restraints and required intervention by officers when another officer is violating law or policy,” according to a staff report.
The policy would only allow police officers to use deadly force and neck or carotid restraints if there was an “imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury,” the report read.
It also would not allow a police officer to strike a restrained person.
It would protect police officers from retaliation if they intervene as another officer is violating the policy.
A public hearing on the bill has not been scheduled. Every member of the council is either a sponsor or a cosponsor.
Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after an officer restrained him on the ground, in handcuffs, and pressed a knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes, leaving him unable to breathe. The officer and three others who watched were charged criminally and fired.
In the other bill, a new non-merit civilian assistant chief of police would oversee a fifth bureau — the Community Resources Bureau — and focus on community relations and evidenced-based policing, according to a staff report.
The Community Engagement Division, Policy and Planning Division, and Public Information Office would be under the bureau.
The police department is already planning to merge the School Resource Officer program into the Community Engagement Division.
Council Member Gabe Albornoz told Bethesda Beat Monday morning that Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones was already looking at putting a use-of-force policy in place before Floyd’s death, but the council’s action would make the policy law and unable to be changed by future police chiefs.
“I think that these practices could have been enacted before, but now, with a fresh perspective and light, it’s important that they be enacted now,” said Albornoz, one of four lead sponsors. “This is not the end-all, be-all. There is more that needs to be done.”
Albornoz said that the county’s first responders visited a designated psychologist more than 700 times last year. The county needs to focus on mental health issues for first responders and residents, he said.
“We need to put our police department in the best position possible to address the unique mental health needs of all our residents,” he said, adding that the pandemic and economic downturn have added to stress in the community.
Albornoz said sending mental health professionals to emergency calls involving residents with mental health problems is a good idea.
“I think we need to have more social workers aligned with the work of law enforcement. That is a unique skill set and training. It takes years,” he said. “It’s more than one or two courses of training. … I think it’s important to have mental health professionals to work with them hand-in-hand to de-escalate situations.”
Council President Sidney Katz is sponsoring the civilian assistant chief bill at the request of County Executive Marc Elrich. In a May 6 memorandum to Katz, Elrich wrote that the position would help address “the expectations of the Council to be a more engaged, transparent and accountable (police) Department to the community as evidenced by the passage and proposal of recent bills.”
The civilian position would join four sworn assistant chief of police positions. A public hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on July 7.
The staff report for the assistant chief bill includes several reorganization duties of the position and bureau, including greater supervision and accountability for the department, and increasing communication with the public.
Briana Adhikusuma can be reached at briana.adhikusuma@moco360.media.
