Proposed police personnel file disclosure law will hurt public safety

Senate Bill 178 recently passed through the state Senate and is pending in the House of Delegates. This bill allows public access of police officers’ personnel files with a few exceptions (“Police reform in Maryland is long overdue,” March 11). It was interesting that during the committee hearings on this bill, an amendment was offered up to have the General Assembly “lead by example,” in that this legislation would also be applied to all members of the General Assembly. This would allow public review of their personnel records also.

When it came up for a vote, the senators on the committee quickly voted it down right along party lines with Democrats voting “no” and Republicans voting “yes” for the amendment. I guess the Democrats in the General Assembly don’t want to lead by example. They don’t want their personnel records to be available to the voting public to view. They live in a world of “do as I say, not as I do.” Why? Are they afraid of something? If it is good enough for our police officers, why not them also? Are the legislators a “special” group better than other public employees?

How about everyone else? Would you like your work personnel records available for anyone to view? If you are going to make police officer records public, then make it so for all public employees from the governor on down. By the way, I am a registered Democrat, and I vote in every election. I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the back. I will remember who voted for this bill and work to elect new legislators.

Police officers are not the enemy here. They work hard every day to protect our society. Yes, there are some bad apples, like in all professions, including the General Assembly. Open your personnel records also. All of the anti-police legislation this year is going to have a lasting negative effect on public safety in the years to come.