A plea for LEO reform support

I’m writing to encourage you to sign police reform bills that will come to your desk from the 2021 session of the Maryland General Assembly. As you are well aware accountability for Law Enforcement Officers in Maryland is deeply lacking. Police work is no doubt demanding and dangerous, but due to the outsized protections given to LEOs under current Maryland law it can become dangerous to a lethal degree for everyday Maryland citizens who did not consent to the level of risk as officers do. Too often, the victims of those disproportionate protections for LEOs are Maryland’s most marginalized citizens. It is fair for LEOs to expect due process in the workplace and none of the bills that will come before you will deprive them of that right. It is not fair for LEOs to have so many additional protections that meaningful accountability is evaded despite citizens being deprived of their rights, safety, dignity and/or lives.   Your choice to support these bills before you moves Maryland toward safe police work for the officers who pledge to protect and serve as well as the citizens they are duty bound to keep safe.

First sent on March 7 by Allegany County NAACP #7007