MoCo Council Vote: Bill 45-20, Police – Community Policing – Data

Yesterday, the Montgomery County Council voted on Bill 45-20, Police – Community Policing – Data. If enacted, this bill would require the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) to make reports and post datasets on "Data Montgomery," which reports on police-community interactions. This legislation would require the MCPD to make a report every year to the Council (among other data) about demographic information regarding individuals stopped (including a stop and frisk that does not result in a citation or arrest), searched, cited, arrested, or the subject of a use of force incident by the Department, including:

1. Race;

2. Ethnicity;

3. Gender; and

4. Any other demographic information voluntarily provided by the detainee.

The bill also would require MCPD to post on Data Montgomery information about each of the following types of incidents, including information about race and ethnicity:

1. Use of force incidents;

2. Field interview reports;

3. Juvenile citations;

4. Criminal citations, including trespassing citations;

5. Alcohol beverage violations;

6. Possession of marijuana violations less than 10 grams;

7. Smoking marijuana in public places; and

8. Any other interactions with the public for which MCPD maintains an internal dataset.

The Pubic Safety Committee recommended several amendments to this bill. This version would:

• Require an explanation by the Department if data sets about interactions with individuals are required to be kept confidential under applicable law;

• Require an annual survey of residents and officers regarding issues of community trust;

• Require the disaggregation of data by gender consistently throughout the bill;

• Require in the Department's annual report information about officer discipline, violations of the use of force policy, and the number of investigations conducted by Internal Affairs;

• Require the reporting of data regarding the pointing of weapons;

• Require data disaggregation by race and ethnicity concerning stay-away orders;

• Require the identification of a public point of contact for data within the Department;

• Require the disaggregation of data by age;

• Require annual public hearings regarding MCPD annual reports under the bill;

• Require MCPD to include with online data an explanation of terms, including the term other for race and ethnicity data;

• Require the annual reporting of overtime data and data on civilian complaints;

• Delete a catch-all requirement under subsection (c)(2) of the bill;

• Require the collection and online publication of certain arrest data, stop data, searches, search warrants, and SWAT team deployment;

• Require disaggregating certain data by police district, division, and bureau;

• Require the collection and reporting of certain data related to mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness;

• Require the collection and reporting of certain data regarding unfounded service calls;

• Require the online posting of agreements between MCPD and private property owners to enforce trespass laws.

CLPA will provide an update on the results of the vote once they are made public