Maryland Governor Larry Hogan today announced a $150 million initiative to “re-fund the police,” calling efforts to remove police funding “absurd” and “radical, far-left lunacy.” He was met by strong backlash from Democratic lawmakers in the state, following more than a year of calls for police reform.

“I can tell you that the state of Maryland will not defund the police, as long as I’m governor,” Hogan said. “Instead, we’re going to re-fund the police.”

In a press briefing Friday, Hogan said he will be directing funding to local and state police in an effort to recruit and retain quality officers, increase diversity, expand community policing programs, improve training, and provide body-cams and other technology to departments.

Hogan’s proposal will direct funding to a number of areas, including $45 million to local police departments, $50 million in salary increases and hiring bonuses for state police, and $24 million to fund body-worn cameras and police training. An additional $25 million will fund victim support services and neighborhood safety grants, as well as chiefs and sheriffs associations. Some of these initiatives will take effect in the coming months, while other parts will go in Hogan’s budget proposal in January.

While local and state leaders have called for widespread police reforms in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police last summer, Hogan has staunchly opposed calls to implement budget changes and major reforms. (City and county governments provide funding for local police departments, they often receive federal and state grants.)

“You could not possibly have a worse time for calling to defund the police or for cutting funding for public safety,” Hogan added, citing increased homicides in Baltimore and other cities. “The reality is, our police are underfunded and under attack.”

While some counties have recommended redirecting funds, Baltimore actually added $28 million to its police budget this year, Montgomery County largely kept its police budget the same, and the state police budget includes an increase in appropriated funds for FY2022. Prince George’s County decreased its police budget but funded three new positions, including a director of race and equity and two psychologists, as well as funds to support a police recruitment campaign.

Hogan immediately faced backlash from the state’s Democratic lawmakers for his remarks.

Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said in a statement that while public safety takes priority across Maryland, “police are just one part of creating safe communities.”

“Genuinely improving public safety isn’t about just writing a bigger check,” Ferguson said. “A real effort to stop violence and make communities safe requires a coordinated plan that gets executed purposely every day. It also includes strategies that recognize poverty and opportunity shape the outcome of individuals.”

Democrats, including Ferguson, State Senator Will Smith, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, and House Speaker Adrienne Jones, called Hogan’s rhetoric “divisive,” “uninformed,” and “misguided.”

On WAMU’s The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi on Friday, Smith said Hogan needed to “get rid of the rhetoric” that pits investing in public safety against police accountability. He said lawmakers should work to hold repeat offenders accountable, but also expose the records of officers who have a record of police brutality.

The Governor's rhetoric is not helpful in that endeavor… https://t.co/DLI31cOBi2

— Senator Will Smith (District 20) (@Willcsmithjr) October 15, 2021

Hogan also said in his press conference that he would soon be announcing legislation to back up the funding initiatives. He called on lawmakers to pass “tougher laws” for violent criminals, prosecutors to be tougher on crime, and judges to issue harsher sentencing for repeat offenders. He said the state will instate a 100% matching program for all crime stoppers rewards to incentivize witnesses to testify and send in tips.

Democratic Del. Gabriel Acevero, of Montgomery County, sponsored a bill this year that allows Marylanders to request police misconduct records. It’s called Anton’s Law, named after Anton Black, a 19 year old who died in 2018 while in police custody. Acevero, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees the state’s budget, called Hogan’s statement more of an announcement than a plan to help communities.

“When we continue to invest more in policing an incarceration and not in education and housing and mental health support, we are not truly addressing the causes of crime, nor are we preventing crime,” Acevero told DCist/WAMU. “When we say defund the police, what we are calling for is the reallocation of funding, or the re-funding of our communities — not law enforcement — and the investments in social infrastructure.”