Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said Thursday that he expects to have an outside consultant help do an independent review as a task force audits the county’s police department.
Elrich said earlier this week that the task force would audit the police department’s data, policies and procedures. It will also examine the court system and whether there is disproportionate sentencing.
During a press conference on Thursday, Elrich said he was considering two different consulting firms to be involved in the task force. He hopes to launch the task force by Aug. 1, he said.
Elrich said the task force will examine practices such as how police officers are evaluated, as well as best practices from other jurisdictions across the country.
“That’s part of what we want an outside group to do, is to look at our processes independently from us,” he said.
“We’re gonna look broadly at the implementation of policing in the county,” he added.
He said the community should not feel like police are “an occupying force.”
Elrich said he expects that his task force will share its findings with another policing advisory commission that the County Council is creating. He expects the task force will share its findings with the advisory commission in January.
The task force is expected to include a diverse group of people when it comes to age, race and gender. There will also be representatives from the LGBT and disability communities, Elrich has said.
A contract with a consulting firm is expected to be finalized by the end of July.
Dan Schere can be reached at daniel.schere@moco360.media
