A group of Maryland Senate lawmakers began hearings on 15 police reform measures Tuesday, but met disapproval from groups on both the political right and left: the state’s Republican Caucus, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other social justice advocacy organizations.

The Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee, chaired by Sen. Will Smith (D-Montgomery County), is expected to meet between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday of this week to review and hear testimony on the bills. The committee heard seven of the bills Tuesday, which included measures to change the legal definition of deadly use of force, maintain a statewide database of officers with complaints against them, eliminate no-knock warrants, establish the duty of a police officer to intervene and report the misconduct of other officers when excessive force is used, prohibit police use of military surplus equipment, and create whistleblower protections.

The virtual hearings for state and local government on police accountability measures come amid regional and nationwide calls to reform police following a string of protests throughout the summer following the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville.

Smith opened the hearing by telling committee members it was a historic moment throughout the nation and “it’s incumbent upon us legislators to seize upon this moment to enact some long overdue systemic reform.”

However, the ACLU and more than 70 other groups throughout Maryland wrote in a statement Monday that the bills are “insufficient” and don’t go “nearly far enough to protect Black lives and rights in our state.”

The statement said the way in which Smith is holding these hearings, outside of a normal General Assembly session, does not allow for a “collaborative approach” and lacks input from underrepresented communities most affected by police actions.

“In their entirety, they miss the point: Power over law enforcement must be shifted into the hands of the community,” the statement read. “We must end the practice of police policing themselves.”

On the other side, members of the Senate’s Republican Caucus also wrote to Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) asking him to cancel the hearings saying the bills were “unambiguously anti-police bills” and were “crafted by ideologically one-sided advocacy groups.”

The letter — co-signed by Republican Senators including Justin Ready (Carroll County), Chris West (Baltimore County), Michael Hough (Frederick, Carroll counties), and Robert Cassilly (Harford County), the four Republican members on the committee — noted that the committee typically works in a bipartisan manner with other Senate lawmakers on bills that deal with crime and race.

Hough said the legislature had already instituted bipartisan policing reforms after the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

“With this hearing, we’ve started talking about an incident in Minnesota which — with all due respect — I don’t control Minneapolis law … we’re in charge of Maryland law,” Hough said. “This session we’re starting into a process that is beginning on a very partisan tone.”

Hough and other Republican members say they were not asked to offer any bills for the three days of hearings. The letter went on to say that the hearings are “simply a planned and concerted effort to excite partisan, political activists before an upcoming election.”

The caucus letter also claims that police incidents of brutality and misconduct are rare. Between 2013 and 2019, police killed 128 people in the state, according to the Mapping Police Violence database. A little less than two-thirds of the people killed were Black, but Black people make up less than a third of the state’s population.

In a written response to Republicans on Monday afternoon, Ferguson defended the hearings and said that having the hearings outside the regular 90-day legislative session gives lawmakers the time to develop the bills.

“We cannot and should not turn a blind eye on the calls for accountability, transparency, and reform in policing, nor should we put policing reform efforts at odds with initiatives to address and prevent crime,” he wrote.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Senate committee will hear additional bills, which include making police body-worn camera footage automatically public record in some cases, designating state prosecutors to investigate crimes committed by police, lowering local governments’ financial liability following a complaint made about an officer, requiring law enforcement agencies to conduct drug and alcohol testing on officers who have used force or used their firearm, and making changes to policies and procedures under the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights and the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission.

Montgomery County Hears Measures

The Montgomery County Council held a public hearing on a separate police reform bill Tuesday afternoon. First introduced in July, the Police Accountability Act, which was drafted by Councilmembers Hans Riemer and Craig Rice, would amend the disciplinary process for police officers.

Current procedure allows officers to appeal a disciplinary action to an “alternative hearing board” composed of labor arbitrators who have the final say. The legislation would revert internal appeals back to a traditional trial board, and give the police chief final say in disciplinary matters.

The bill would also add civilian oversight on disciplinary matters stemming from citizen allegations of excessive force and reform the bargaining rights of the police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, as well as improving the Council, county executive, and police department management’s “ability to implement the policy changes we wish to see,“ per a memo from Riemer.

In a July letter to colleagues, Riemer and Rice wrote, “Through state law … and the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the County, we have a slow, uncertain, and complex process to discipline officers for violations of Department policies. This must change because we should have a department where the Chief’s ability to set a culture and hold officers accountable for meeting high expectations is strong.”

During Tuesday’s hearing, a number of union and community members and representatives voiced their opposition to the bill.

Paulette Kee-Dudley, vice president of UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO, a union that represents more than 1,000 sworn and civilian public safety personnel among its members, asked the council to reject the bill.

“We’re as repulsed as anyone by the egregious acts of violence and senseless murders we’ve witnessed across the country,” she said. “But taking away collective bargaining should not be the way we begin reform.”

Torrie Cooke, the president of FOP Lodge 35, which represents over 1,000 Montgomery County police officers, said, “We hear and appreciate the public’s concerns and we think there should be an open and constructive dialogue in Montgomery County about policing and public safety, but we should work together to build a better future and not take unilateral action that serves no purpose and breaks faith with those who are dedicated to serving the county.”

He said the FOP is willing to work alongside the county to develop new processes together “based on state law, so both the county and police have an interest in making sure it works.”

Faith Blackburn with the Montgomery County chapter of the NAACP voiced support for the bill, calling it “a step in the right direction,” and saying, “We must ensure that there are no more cases like Robert White of Silver Spring,” referring to an unarmed man who was killed by police in 2018.

Others argued the bill does not go far enough and called for the legislation to be amended to increase community involvement.

Police Chief Marcus Jones also shared testimony on behalf of county executive Marc Elrich, asking that the bill be delayed until the county’s Policing Advisory Commission and community task force can weigh in, and other pending reviews and legislation move forward.

A Public Safety Committee work session on the legislation is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 1.

The community task force, which recently held its first meeting, will recommend changes to the police department and other public safety programs. The task force will hold a second meeting on Thursday, Sept. 24, and provide its recommendations by Jan. 18, 2021.

The hearing comes after the council voted unanimously to approve changes to the department’s use of force policy, including banning some no-knock warrants, limiting the use of deadly force, and banning chokeholds and other restraints in July.

The changes followed instances of county police officers using excessive force to subdue people who were already restrained. Last month, Montgomery County police officer Kevin Moris was sentenced to two years probation for assaulting a handcuffed suspect in July 2019, driving a knee into 19-year-old Arnaldo Pesoa’s neck while he was face down on the ground.