Calls for police oversight have grown louder in recent years, leading the state of Maryland to mandate the creation of police accountability boards in 2022. But after all the fiery rhetoric, just how often were cops in Prince George鈥檚 County actually going rogue?
In 2023, the county’s Police Accountability Board received 104 complaints documenting 245 total allegations of misconduct against the more than 2,000 officers working across 28 various county and municipal policing agencies. Less than a quarter of those allegations were sustained.
The findings of the 2023 report were presented to the Prince George鈥檚 County Council this week. Topping the list of complaints were allegations of 鈥渃onduct unbecoming鈥� and 鈥渄iscourtesy.鈥�
鈥淭hings like being rude and discourteous when dealing with the public. Also profanity,鈥� explained Cardell Montague, vice chair of the administrative charging committee. 鈥淢isconduct, that鈥檚 mostly what we get.鈥�
The county police department, by far the biggest in Prince George鈥檚, was on the receiving end of 128 of the allegations.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 because they鈥檙e the largest police law enforcement agency,鈥� noted Kelvin Davall, chair of the Police Accountability Board.
Another 24 were lodged against the county sheriff鈥檚 office, and 19 were leveled against police in Greenbelt. Several departments 鈥� including New Carrollton, Riverdale Park and Cheverly 鈥� didn鈥檛 have any. They鈥檙e the fifth, eighth and 10th largest municipalities in the county.
Council chair Jolene Ivey said it seems most of the complaints could be remedied with more training, 鈥渏ust to make sure people know how to speak to people, how to treat people,鈥� she said.
鈥淭o have basically, what, 100-and-some that are found, it鈥檚 not that bad. Not one is good, not one is good, but it looks like it鈥檚 mostly just some training for some people 鈥� I鈥檓 glad to see use of force isn鈥檛 a huge part of it.鈥�
There were 30 allegations of improper use of force.
Of the 245 complaints, 53 of them were sustained. Another 44 were unfounded and 33 led to exonerations. There were 30 complaints that couldn鈥檛 be sustained, meaning the allegations couldn鈥檛 be proven one way or the other.
During the hearing, Davall stressed that his board is recommending police departments improve their training on when body worn cameras should be in operation.
鈥淲e want to make sure police officers understood this was very important to the citizens and there鈥檚 really no excuse not to have your body worn camera on,鈥� he said.
There was also an acknowledgment that actual incidents of misconduct could be undercounted in parts of the county where immigrant populations are higher and trust in the process is lower.
Wanika Fisher, who chairs the county council鈥檚 Health, Human Services and Public Safety Committee, asked about how many complaints were made by Spanish speaking residents, or those who don鈥檛 speak English.
鈥淲hat are we doing as a board?鈥� she asked. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want a whole community sort of being underground with the complaint process because their oral complaint in a different language isn鈥檛 being taken seriously or the online portal in different languages are not accessible.鈥�
It鈥檚 something members of the oversight panel acknowledged was already being talked about for the future.
鈥淲e do understand that those really are the marginal communities and they don鈥檛 report because they don鈥檛 really trust the process,鈥� said Anthony Bennett, the county鈥檚 inspector general. 鈥淲e want to make sure we have something in their native tongue that they can reach out to us.”
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