Track Progress Of Police Reform Initiatives On New Dashboard

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The public can now track the progress of the Montgomery County Police Department as it tackles a series of reforms, part of the Reimagining Public Safety Initiative. A new dashboard shows recommendations from the initiative's task force, as well as the Maryland Police Accountability Act and the recent audit — progress, timeline, the responsible party and priority level is noted alongside each recommendation.

“Reimagining Public Safety is not a buzz phrase and residents deserve to know how the County is moving forward with actionable steps to make their communities safer for all,” said County Executive Marc Elrich in a statement. "The dashboard shows the implementation process of many reform actions, and we look forward to continue sharing our progress with the County as they are happening.”

Elrich launched the Reimagining Public Safety initiative in June 2020, which included a task force to rethink policing in the county.

The preliminary audit results released just last week were reported by a third party, which honed in on use-of-force investigations and mental health as two priority areas for improvement. Some of the recommendations from the audit, now being tracked on the dashboard are:

• Identify and define what a serious use of force is
• Determine a single repository for use of force and internal affairs incidents
• Investigate all use of force incidents
• Consider mandating Crisis Intervention experience for all Sergeants, FTO's and any newly promoted Commanders, which with attrition and promotion, will build capacity and a culture of understanding the importance of the CIT program (MCPD already requires Crisis Intervention training after officers leave the academy, but this would include refresher courses)
• Consider increasing the starting salary for entry-level police officers to become more competitive in the Washington Metropolitan area
• Require more human relations training (bias free, procedural justice) on an annual basis

"The MCPD is a high-performing organization," the audit said. "Yet, like all high-performing organizations, there is not only opportunity for improvement but continuous improvement is essential to maintaining pace with constantly changing environmental circumstances and public expectations."