Lawmakers pass sweeping police reform legislation

Maryland lawmakers voted to limit police officers’ use of force, restrict the use of noknock warrants and repeal the nation’s first Bill of Rights for law enforcement, taking sweeping action to address police violence after nationwide demonstrations following the death of George Floyd.

The Democraticled legislature enacted the changes by overriding Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s vetoes during a session Saturday in which some Black lawmakers read aloud the names of people they said had been killed by police officers in the state.

The changes placed Maryland at the forefront of a national debate over police brutality and the use of excessive force, a discussion that has gained intensity since Floyd was killed in police custody last year, setting off protests across the country. The legislation was passed in the middle of the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who is accused of murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death.

“This is what the community wants — they want reform, they want transparency, and they want accountability,” said Caylin Young, public policy director of the ACLU of Maryland, which was part of a coalition of 90 groups that had backed the bills. “There needs to be a reimagining of what policing in Maryland looks like.”

Hogan had vetoed the measures on Friday, saying their original intent had been “overtaken by political agendas that do not serve the public safety needs of the citizens of Maryland.” He said the changes would “further erode police morale, community relationships and public confidence.”

Police groups also criticized the legislature’s action.

“The reality is they have reinvented policing in the state of Maryland,” said Angelo Consoli of the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police. “They’re going to make it tougher for the police to police. There’s reform, and this went beyond reform.”

The wideranging changes were intended to address many of the concerns raised by demonstrators who have protested police violence after the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people killed by officers.

One section creates a new statewide useofforce policy and says that officers who violate those standards, causing serious injury or death, can be convicted and sent to prison for up to 10 years. The standard says that force can be used only to prevent “an imminent threat of physical injury” to a person or to “effectuate a legitimate law enforcement objective.”

The legislature also repealed Maryland’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, which was the nation’s first such law when it was enacted in the 1970s. It gave every officer statewide the right to appeal discipline to a local board, regardless of a city’s wishes.

Lawmakers replaced those protections by requiring every county to have a police accountability board to receive complaints of misconduct from the public.

Other changes include the requirement that, by 2025, all law enforcement officers who regularly interact with the public must wear body cameras.